Trading Tails
by Twilightdragoness
Summary: Lewis finally reveals his findings. Everyone now has a choice to make. What will they decide, and what will they do? In the end they will find that their choice had even greater impact then they ever would have thought possible. 3rd in series.
1. Chapter 1

Authors Note and Insights:

I don't own H2O. As usual I will only post that once here at the start.

So here is the third story in the series. I think I've waited long enough for everyone to have a chance to read the end of the last one. Also, as promised, here is the bonus content I promised.

While reading various fics from people I kept looking for a story that had all four girls and had a way to bring them together. I saw many that had things go either good or bad between Bella and Emma. So I got to thinking about the situation and realized that it all could be solved by Rikki and Cleo having kept in touch with her via e-mail and phone. The modern age has a lot of wonderful ways to keep in touch after all.

Using that premise I figured that Emma would be kept fully up to date on everything from the moment of Bella's arrival to the stopping of the comet. They might even have had a chance to talk to each other over the phone or a vid-conference program. This wasn't actually shown in the shows which, thankfully, left it open to personal interpretation and I took advantage of that.

My original idea was to start with Emma's coming home party and the exchange of the necklaces, but I had no idea's for how to carry it on beyond that point at first. After a lot of thinking I toyed with the idea of adding a fifth girl to the group but couldn't come up with a convincing reason for her to be there. So I found myself once again stumped.

So one day I decided to re-watch the first season. After watching the final episode again I couldn't help but think that the look on Denman's face practically screamed at me "Oh God! What have I done." Suddenly things started to fall into place.

So the idea came to me that if there was a fifth girl and she met Denman who was silently wishing for a chance to undo her mistake, then how would things happen. Then I started filling in the gaps, how the new girl was to meet her, why would they be in Australia, and why the new girl would be willing to work with her. As I answered these questions Laura started to take shape in my mind. Her reasons, motivations, personality, and quirks.

Lastly I had to decide on a power for her. At first I toyed with the idea of another Charlotte, but adding in Bella's power, but then decided that would make her too strong. I wanted a way for her to fit in and have a reason for being with them. So I decided that she would be able to enhance the others. That worked, but it offered her no way to protect herself. So I figured what if she did have all the other powers but just so weak that it was more like a token offer then actual powers. After turning it over in my head for a few days I found I liked it.

The rest has been slowly unveiled in the stories. However, should you wish to know more feel free to send me questions in a review or a PM and I'll be happy to provide any specific detail you'd like to know. Now on with the third story.

One last note for you all. This story will be from a lot of different character's viewpoints. You're even going to get the chance to see Laura from the outside too. The only thing that will stay the same is Laura's view point will be in the first person, everyone else will be in a subjective third person. So I hope you all enjoy the chance to see Laura from the others view.

Chapter 1:

Countdown: Monday.

Lewis sat on the couch in the office of Rikki's Cafe. He'd been here for several hours so far and he was no closer to figuring out how to tell everyone what he'd found out then he was when he'd first arrived. Should he just come right out with it or should he build up to it slowly? Would some background on his research help or just confuse them? He had no idea.

Frustrated he stood up and began to pace. He started to go over in his mind how the others would each react. Cleo, Rikki, and Emma might be interested in the news but Bella would probably react badly and he didn't yet know Laura well enough to predict her reaction. She always surprised him. Like the way she kept mixing up the measuring systems. He found it so confusing how she automatically used metric for somethings and that other one for others.

He groaned as he realized he was going off on a tangent to avoid thinking about his real reason for being here. He gave himself a mental shake and told himself to focus. He had though about the girls but what of the guys. This information could effect them too. How would they take it? He had no idea.

Zane had changed so much Lewis admitted to himself he no longer had any idea how he'd react. He hadn't really gotten to know Will or Ash. As for Byron, he'd never even considered that he'd have gotten mixed up in all this. What should I do? He asked himself. He had no answer.

Lastly he considered Denman. Even though he didn't like her much, he wasn't the type of person to hold a grudge, and she had proven that she'd learned from her mistakes, too. This development would definitely interest her, and Laura would fill her in. Unlike Cleo, Emma, and Rikki, Laura, and Bella too, had never suffered being captured by her and thus didn't have a bad impression of her. They actually viewed her as a good friend. Add in that she was back in town to get some R and R and he knew it would be impossible to keep this from her for long.

"Damn it," he muttered as he realized he was once again going off on a pointless tangent to avoid the main issue. "Come on, Lewis, stay focused."

A knock at the door startled him and, after he calmed himself, he asked who it was.

"Just me." Zane said as he opened the door and stuck his head in. "They're all here. Should we come back now?"

Lewis let out a deep breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and nodded. Zane turned and nodded to the others just out of Lewis' view and they all filed in. Lewis stepped over to the desk and stood there as he waited for them all to get seated. He found himself suddenly unable to speak.

"So, Lewis, what's up?" Rikki asked, blunt as usual.

"Well," he cleared his throat and tried again. "Well some time ago while doing research on mermaid legends in the hope of finding out more about what you all can do I came across a particularly unusual one."

"More unusual then that wish granting paste?" Emma asked.

"Wish granting?" Bella and Laura both asked. "We can do that?"

"Save that for another time." Lewis said definitely not wanting to get into speculation on what would happen if they used all five powers in the making of that stuff. They nodded but he figured they'd ask about it again. "Anyways, this one concerns the moon, eclipses, and their effects on your powers."

He took a deep breath about to continue when Bella held up her hand. He let out his breath and nodded to her. "This meeting is to warn us about an upcoming eclipse?"

"Part right," he answered her. "Next Sunday there will be a partial lunar eclipse."

"So it will only draw away our powers for half as long?" Cleo guessed.

"If you let me finish I am about to explain." They all motioned for him to continue. "Well, that is not entirely accurate. The partial eclipse does draw them away but would also just give them right back. Unless you are touching someone else that isn't already a mermaid."

"Why would something like that matter?" Zane asked clearly perplexed.

"Only in that the person in contact with the mermaid would get them." Lewis answered.

"P... p... permanently?" Bella stuttered.

"No." Lewis assured her. "According to my research it will only last for one week and then they would return to their original owner."

"A week?" Will asked. "As in someone else could borrow them for a week. Why would they want to do that?"

Bella head snapped around to look at him in surprise. Clearly she had though he'd be all for borrowing them and was surprised that he clearly wasn't interested.

"Well," Lewis started. "I know that after the incident with Charlotte," he couldn't help a slight shudder. He noticed that Cleo, Emma, and Rikki had a slightly angry look at the mention of her too. "Well after that incident, I know that Cleo, Emma, and Rikki all had doubts about wither or not they should have jumped into the pool that night too. I guess that by loaning their powers to someone else for a week and living with out them they could find out if they made the right choice or not."

He noticed that Cleo, Emma, and Rikki all looked thoughtful about that. However before they could get any chance to start a debate he continued. "Anyways I figured I'd leave the choice up to you all. To that end I came up with some ideas for rules about this for you to consider. First rule is that final choice is up to the girls. We don't pressure them either way. That OK?"

They all though about it for a moment and then nine heads nodded. "OK. Then second rule is that if the girls want to talk to us about it we answer honestly. If they ask us for reasons why they should, we give them, if they ask for reasons they shouldn't we give those too. We just give them our opinion and try not to push them to one side or the other. OK guys?"

Will, Zane, Ash, and Bryon considered that and agreed that would be best. "OK. Third rule is that we don't talk about this around the girls unless they bring it up first."

"But how are we supposed to talk about it for ourselves then?" Byron asked.

"We can talk about it with each other when they are not around, we just don't bring up the topic so as to not seem as if we are trying to pressure them about it."

"Don't we get a say in that one?" Laura asked.

"If you don't like that rule you are free to say so. I'm just trying to think of ways to make sure we don't pressure you." Lewis answered her.

"I say we leave that one up to a one on one basis." Emma offered. "For example if I don't mind Ash bringing it up when it's just the two of us then that would be OK."

"That sounds good." Laura said. "No bringing it up when it's a group but if we want to do it on a one to one thing we can."

Everyone agreed to that one. "OK. Last rule I came up with. You all have to agree." He held up his hand to stall them. "By that I mean if only, let's say Cleo, wants to do this then the rest of you have to agree to it since you'd be responsible for keeping who ever she chose to loan them too out of trouble. I don't mean that you all do it or you all don't do it."

"OK. That one I can agree too." Laura said. "I would like some say if I was going to have to babysit one of you guys. Though if it is Cleo that does this I'm sure we'd be watching you, Lewis."

Everyone laughed. "Anyone want to add something?" He asked.

"Only that we should all agree now who we'd loan them too." Bella said. "You know, just in case we do decided to do this."

"I think Laura hit that one on the head already." Cleo said. "I'd end up loaning my powers to Lewis. I'm guessing each of you would choose your own guy."

Each of the couples exchanged looks. Not sure yet what they wanted.

"Well how about from this point on we drop this as a group discussion for now," Zane said. "And talk about this one on one when the girls are ready to."

They all agreed and filed out leaving Cleo and Lewis alone in the office.

* * *

Cleo looked up at Lewis from where she was sitting. He looked nervous and deep in thought. She knew that he would love the chance to borrow her powers so he could do some tests on himself he wasn't comfortable asking her or the others to do. At the same time he didn't want to push her into this for his own interest. She knew him well.

However there was one complication that she and the others hadn't mentioned during the group discussion. That of the pact they'd all made the day the moon pool had shown them about their descendants. This now conflicted with the questions she had thought buried.

"Lewis." She said.

"Yes?"

"There's something you should know." She took a deep breath to steady her nerves then plunged forward. "On the day we went to the moon pool for the first full moon after it was fixed, we all agreed to stick this out for the long run. However, I don't know if I agreed because there was no going back anymore or if I truly had come to accept this." She slowly looked up at him. "I don't know what to do."

"How... how do you mean?" He asked.

"If I take this chance to find out it would feel like I'm going back on that agreement, but if I don't I'll always wonder, 'what if?'" She hung her head, her indecision clearly showing on her face.

"Hmmm..." Lewis hummed while pacing the office. Cleo didn't stop him. She recognized that he was thinking it over. He didn't usually pace though and that worried her a little.

"Well," he said at last coming to a stop in front of her. "I suppose the best thing to do is ask the others about how they'd feel. If they would think it would be bad that you wanted to go back on that or not. Maybe they'll surprise you though. They might feel the same too. You'd never know if you didn't ask them, however."

Cleo looked up at him. He took her hands and smiled at her. She could see that no matter what she, or the others, chose, he would be here for her.

"Thank you, Lewis." She said with her first real smile since his announcement earlier. "That's the best advice you could have given. It's exactly what I need to do."

"No problem." He said. "I'm always here for you."

"I know. Thank you. For everything." She leaned over and kissed him. "I love you."

"I...," he cleared this throat and tried again. "I love you, too."

She threw her arms around him and held him close. It was the first time he'd said the words out loud to her, and it meant the world. She felt tears of joy slide down her cheeks, but she didn't care. This was the most perfect moment she'd ever had.

"I'm going to call the others to the moon pool tonight." She said not letting go of him. "Better to do this as soon as possible."

"Then you better round them up before they all scatter off." He said a less serious tone.

"Will you be here when I get back?" She asked.

"I'll be where ever you need me to be at. All you need to do is tell me where to wait." He said. "And I'd wait for as long as it takes."

"Well I don't know how late we'll run tonight, but I'll let you know as soon as I can. I don't want to keep you waiting too long."

"I'd wait forever." His face suddenly went from serious to joking. "However the girls are likely to scatter if you don't call or text them soon."

"Right. I'd better get on that." She shared a laugh with him as she pulled out her phone and sent a mass text to the other girls.

* * *

Emma led Ash outside and over to a nearby tree that was in front of the cafe. She sat next to it and, after a moment, Ash joined her. He kept silent, waiting for her to think out what she wanted to say or ask. She was glad. She had a lot to think about.

Eventually she felt ready to begin. "Ash, what do you think about this?"

"Lot's of different things." He admitted. "You'll have to get a bit more specific on what part you want to know my thoughts on."

"Should we do this or not?" She looked at him. "I guess that's the biggest part."

He smiled. "Honestly?" He asked. She nodded and after a moment of though he continued. "Honestly I think that's going to be answered by a question of do you have a reason to do it or not to do it."

"Well," she started. She let out a breath and after a few more deep breaths she had worked up the never to continue. "I have to admit I've always wondered if we made the right choice by not jumping into the moon pool the night we had a chance to give it all up. Yet we all made a pact of sorts to stay in this till the end. So you see I have good reasons for both sides."

"I see that." He took her hand. "I think you should talk with the others. They might agree to let you do this simply to lay those doubts to rest. Then you can continue on knowing that you made the right choice and the pact because you truly wanted too."

"You really think so?" She seemed doubtful.

"Well, I can't speak for them." He said with a half grin. "But I can say that I've spent enough time with you all to know that the others are not totally unreasonable if you use good logical reasons for it."

"You know, you're right." She smiled at him. "I just have to ask them. If they'd be alright with it then I can decided if I want to do it or not."

"So when will you do it?" He asked curious.

"Tomorrow." Was her answer. "I'd like to sleep on it. Best not to do this in haste."

"That's what I like about you. Once you decided to do something you stick too it."

"Is that all you like?"

"No. Just one of the many uncountable traits of Emma that make you completely unique."

"Thanks, Ash."

"Well what ever you decided to do, I'm here for you. I love you, you know that right?" He told her.

"I do now. You've never said that out loud to me before."

"Really, hm. I though I had already. But are you going to leave me hanging here?"

She laughed. She didn't need to be told what he was waiting for. "I love you, too."

Just then her phone beeped with an incoming text. She quickly went over it and then turned to Ash.

"Seems Cleo's having some of the same doubts and questions I am. Only she want's to meet at the pool tonight for us to talk it out."

"Well then you better not keep her waiting." He stood and offered her a hand up. "Let me know when you get back if you'd like to talk more. I'll come right over if you need me too."

"Thanks." She smiled. "Depending on how this talk goes I might have to take you up on that."

He walked her to the water and kissed her one last time before she dove in. She swam the whole way there with a smile.

* * *

Rikki walked outside and around the cafe. She'd asked Zane to follow her and she wanted somewhere a little more privet to talk. Once she was satisfied no one could over hear them she turned to him.

"What should I do?" She moaned. She'd never have though she'd ever have been asking Zane for advice. It was amazing how much things had changed in the last few years for her.

"I honestly have no idea." He said rubbing his hands on his face. "This isn't something I'd ever considered possible. I'm not even sure I'd be willing to go along with the exchange unless you really needed me to."

He eye's widened in shock. Zane would turn an opportunity like this down?

"You seem surprised by that." He commented.

"I'd have though you'd have jumped at the chance!" She blurted out.

"Not really. It's not something I think I was meant to have. I mean if you absolutely needed me to I'd do it, but only to hold onto for safe keeping, if you trusted me with that." He explained.

"But this would be a chance for you to understand me better?" He put a finger over her lips.

"I understand you just fine. I don't need to do this to know you better. I love you just how you are. I wouldn't want to change anything about you. Not even this. It's a part of you that I think makes you whole."

"But that's just it, Zane. I don't know if it's supposed to be a part of me or not some days." She turned away and threw up her hands. Then she suddenly turned back, indecision clear on her face. "But we all agreed to see this through to the end. I don't know if I'd feel right going back on that just to be sure."

"Ask the others." He said in a moment of inspiration. "See how they feel about it."

"Zane?" She was stunned. "That's the best idea you've ever had."

"Uh. Thanks I think."

"No I mean it. That is seriously the best idea you've ever had since I've known you. You really have changed."

"Well I've been running all my ideas past you guys for the last year or so."

"I guess we've started to rub off on you." She smiled.

"That's a good thing right?"

"Yes. That's a very good thing." She felt a warm feeling in her heart. Zane had changed. Oh he still had his old bad boy tendencies but he'd learned to balance them with his responsibilities. The combination drew her to him even more then when he was just a bad boy.

"So you'll ask the others."

"Yes. I think I will." She put her arms around him.

"When?" His tone was curious.

"Don't know yet. I'll think about it some." She looked up at him. "But if I do go through with it - safe keeping right?"

He let out a breath but nodded his agreement. "Safe keeping."

"You would have a little fun though I'd hope."

He looked at her strangely. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well think of it like I'd be asking you to watch over a speed bike or a really fast boat. I'd kind of expect you to take it out for at least one test run."

"Well only if you said I could. I don't want to think I'm still that foolhardy."

She smiled. She had the answer to her question. He had learned balance. If he could fine tune it a little more she'd be content to stay with him. She knew he knew that. She also knew he felt he had a long way to go yet. She wasn't about to let him know how far he'd already come. That might make him stop trying so hard.

Just then her phone beeped. After checking it she turned back to Zane.

"It's Cleo." She said. "She want's us to meet her at the moon pool. Seems she wants to talk about the same stuff you just suggested I should ask them about."

"Well you should go then." He said. "I can wait until you get back. Besides I have to close up tonight. I'll be here late. We can talk more then if you still want to."

"I'll let you know." They heard several splashes from the other side of the cafe. "I guess I better get going or I'll be the last one there."

They shared a laugh and Rikki hurried around the cafe. She saw the other guys at the waters edge and Cleo was on the small pier about to dive in. She started to run. Her competitive side taking over. She really didn't want to be the last one there.

* * *

Will took a seat outside on one of the benches and Bella happily dropped into his lap. She put one arm around his shoulders as he wrapped his around her waist.

"So what do you think?" She asked him.

"About the concept or the remote possibility you'd actually go through with it?" He joked.

"The concept." She laughed back. "You're right about the second. After eleven years I'd have to have a really compelling reason to actually do this. I can't think of one."

"Well then how about if some of the others wanted to?" He asked instead. "That one seems far more likely."

"Well we did kinda agree not to give it all up." She said then paused to think. "But I guess if they really needed to be sure it wouldn't be right to force them not to. Ya know."

"Yeah. I guess that's a good view point." He kissed her. "So when are you going to tell them?"

"I'll wait until they ask. That way I don't overly influence them one way or the other. That wouldn't seem right."

"That sounds fair." He smiled.

She looked up at him and tilted her head to the side for a moment considering something. "What would you do if I did find a compelling enough reason? You know, just for curiosities sake."

He shared a laugh with her. "I guess I'd go out to where we had the competition and see if I actually could dive down 540 meters."

"Really? That's what you'd do?" Her tone was a mix of surprise and amusement.

"Well? What did you think I'd do?" He asked her.

She though it over for a moment. "Okay, yeah. I can see that.

"So what do we do now?" He asked.

"Just sit here and relax. Nothing to do about this until the others want to talk."

"We could go back to my place." He said, his tone slightly suggestive.

"You know Laura's figured it out, right."

"That's OK. Not nearly as bad and when Sophie found out." His face turned slightly red.

"Sophie found out?" She felt her own face start to heat up.

"Yeah I kinda left the box out after one time. She spotted it and I haven't heard the end of it since." He was really turning red now.

"I guess it's time we put a lock on your door I suppose." She said.

"And shutters or blinds over the windows too." He added.

They lapsed into embarrassed silence after that. Unable to work past having been found out. They stayed that way until Bella's phone beeped. After looking over it she let out a breath and she felt her face return to normal. Will didn't miss the change.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Just Cleo. She want's to meet at the moon pool. I guess she has her doubts and wants to talk with us about them."

"Well you should go. This will be a good time to tell them they have your support in this if that's what they need."

She nodded. "I guess I could drop by your place later. You know to tell you how it went."

"You're always welcome there you know. You don't have to ask. Not with all you mean to me. I love you and always will." He smiled. "So let the others know they have your support and if you want to you can drop by later."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Depends on how mentally exhausting the conversation is."

"Good point. I'll let you know either way. Keep your phone on."

"Sure thing." They heard a splash behind them. They turned to see that Ash was by the canal and Laura was walking towards it hand in hand with Byron. A quick glance back inside the cafe was enough for them to see Cleo come out of the office.

"I'd better get a move on." She told him. "Walk me to the water?"

"Sure." He said as they stood up. He took her hand and they headed to the water. After one last kiss she dove in and followed after Emma and Laura. Cleo wouldn't be too far behind and knowing Rikki she'd be going as fast as possible to avoid being last. Bella didn't care to race that often, but she didn't feel like delaying this by making the others wait on her either. So she hurried but didn't mind over much when Rikki finally did pass her.

* * *

I went outside with Byron. Lewis' news spinning around in my head. I didn't know what to make of it. I had agreed, along with the others, to stay in this for the long haul. I didn't doubt that much, but there were days where I wondered if I had been there, if I had know, would I have jumped in.

I doubted Bella would go for it. Of all of us she was least likely. Cleo would be my top choice if I had to be honest, and I wasn't ready to face my own questions just yet. So I led Byron off to the side and we sat down on the stairs. I could see Emma over by the tree in front of the cafe, Rikki had led Zane around back, Cleo was still inside, and Bella had gotten cozy on Will's lap. I turned to Byron and suddenly found myself unable to voice my concerns.

"I'm going to guess you'd like my opinion on all this." He said.

"Yeah. That about sums it up." I admitted. "What should I do if the others want to do this? We kinda agreed to stick it out. I'd don't know if going along with this or not would be good or bad."

"Well, the way I see it is if you have any doubts then it's best to lay them to rest." He turned to me. "It's like surfing or anything else really. If you don't think you can do something then no matter how many times you try you'll never get it right."

"Sometimes wrong, but never in doubt?" I asked.

"That's a good way to look at it." He smiled and I suddenly felt better. "If they have doubts about if they made the right choice then I think you should let them face those."

"Yeah. I think you're right." I looked over at Bella. Byron followed my gaze.

"Now her," Byron said. "Her I don't see as having any doubts. She's had more then half her life spent this way."

"Yeah. I know." I stared at my roommate and good friend. "But does she even remember what it was like before?"

"No idea. You'd have to ask her." He turned to me. "But be sure about it before you ask. You might not be doing her a favor if you do."

"Good advice. I'll make sure to keep that in mind."

"And what of you? No doubts?"

"No I have them." I admitted. "I often wonder if I'd been there on that night, if I'd even have know to be there, could I have jumped in? Would I have?" I sighed.

"Well if you decided you need the answers I'll keep things safe for you."

"Huh?" I asked confused.

"Well I'd have to completely stop surfing for the week. Giving that up would be as much a challenge as you giving your powers up." He took me in his arms. "See, surfing is something I've been doing for so long now that it's a part of me in a way. It would be just as hard for me to find out if I could do with out as for you to. But if you really need answers I'd do it."

"Why?" I asked feeling choked up with emotions. That he would do something like that for me was in a way just amazing. I wanted, no I needed, to know why he felt I was worth it. "Why do that? Just for me?"

"Because I love you." He said simply. "And if you need do this, to give up a part of yourself, to find answers then how can I not help you?"

"Even if you have to give up something you love? Something that is a part of yourself?"

"It would be wrong of me to expect you to sacrifice something and not be willing to do the same." My heart nearly burst. I realized I would never find another man so right for me. "If you need to do this, just ask. My answer will always be yes."

"I love you too." I said then kissed him only to have the moment broken by my phone. I was half tempted to ignore it but I'd set individual tones for the others on texts as well as calls. I knew with out looking it was Cleo. I could guess what she wanted.

"It's Cleo." I said as I pulled it out. "I'm guessing she wants to ask our permission."

"I understand. I'll be here when you return."

"Here here?" I said indicating the cafe.

He laughed with me. "You know what I mean." He said.

"I do." I kissed him on more time. "I'll call you when I get back. Mind coming to the water's edge with me?"

"Sure." He stood up and offered me his hand. I took it and he didn't let go even after helping me to my feet.

We'd covered half the distance when we saw Emma dive in. I knew right off to not even bother to try to catch her. The only one that could come close to Emma's speed was Rikki, and Emma now had a good head start. I also didn't feel like racing either. It was still early in the afternoon and we'd have plenty of time to talk regardless.

I paused at the edge and gave Byron one last kiss. He ran his hand gently along my cheek one last time before stepping back to let me dive in.

* * *

Cleo was the last one to arrive. She didn't care. Racing to and from Mako was never her thing. She was just glad the others had shown up.

"Glad you're all here." She said. "I need to talk to you about something."

"You want our permission? Right?" Bella guessed.

"Well I know we all agreed," Cleo started.

"Don't worry." Rikki said. "I was going to talk to you all about the same thing once I'd slept on it for a day or so."

"Me as well." Emma admitted.

"I guess myself as well." Laura added.

"Wait. All of you?" Bella said. "So much for being sure."

"Well I just need to know if I agreed because I honestly have come to love this or if I just felt there was no way out." Cleo said. "I hate not being sure."

"I occasionally wonder if not jumping in that day was the right or wrong choice." Rikki said. "I know I love this, the speed, the ocean, and everything else." She sighed. "But I need to be completely sure I made the right choice that day."

"Same for me." Emma said. "Almost word for word."

"And you?" Bella asked looking at Laura.

"I wonder what I would have done if I'd been there that day. More so if I'd even know at the time." Their red haired friend flopped on her back and looked up the cone of the dormant volcano. "I love this. I do wish it could be forever, but there are days I just wonder. I don't know yet if I want the answers or not. It's something I'll need to think really hard on."

Cleo looked at Bella. She took a deep breath and then voiced her question. "I'm curious if you have any doubts or questions."

Bella looked like she was trying hard not to laugh. "Nothing springs to mind."

"What?" Emma asked.

"Huh?" Bella looked at her.

"Not you," Emma said. "Her." She was pointing at Laura.

"I'd rather not say." Laura said firmly. "It would just make a mess."

"No." Bella said. "Now I want to know. What did you think of that I might want to know?"

Laura let out a sigh and righted herself. She deliberately looked Bella in the eye. "Do you even remember what it was like before you became a mermaid anymore?"

"I... I..." Bella sunk in on herself. "I don't know." She shook herself and then said. "But why should I even worry about that?"

"Because, like us, you weren't born a mermaid." Cleo said having figured it out. "I hope I never do forget what life was like before hand. It's a part of me that I don't want to loose. Whether or not I do this and choose to stay this way I never want to forget that."

"Why is that such a big worry?" Bella said. "It's not something any of our kids would worry about."

"Yeah, but if we all stay this way any kids of ours would be mermaids from day one. They wouldn't know any other life." Rikki pointed out.

"This is why I didn't want to bring it up." Laura said. "I would have preferred for you to have asked that question on your own. I didn't want to dig that up."

"Well don't worry." Bella said. "It's been so long now that's not a big deal for me."

Cleo was willing to let it slide for now. It seemed the others did to. So instead she brought it back to the original reason for asking the others here.

"I want to do this." Cleo said. "I know it's a bit of a fast decision but you all know I was the most reluctant to accept the change. I need to know for sure."

"I don't mind." Emma said. "I don't know yet if I'll do this as well but I'm behind you. If you need to be sure then be sure."

"Yeah." Rikki said. "I don't see how I could say no when I occasionally wonder about that too."

"I agreed to support you." Bella said. "Even if I don't have a reason myself. Better to be sure after all."

"I guess it's cool." Laura said. "I might, just might mind you, be asking the same thing. I'd tell you not to hold your breath on that one but with it being us...," they all laughed at the expression.

"I'm sorry about the pact we made." Cleo said.

"Don't be." Bella replied. "We made that with the best of intentions. We didn't know something like this would come this soon."

"She's right." Laura said. "We all believed that it would be almost fifty years before we could choose to change our minds."

"And after fifty years it would be kind of pointless to do so." Rikki finished.

"Thanks guys." Cleo said. "Emma? You sure you're OK with all this?"

"Yes. However, we need to start preparing now. If you're going to do this then we all need to get ready. More so because some of us are still undecided."

"I take it that means you have a plan." Rikki stated bluntly.

"Of course I do." Emma said with a smile. "We're all going to arrange to have as much time off next week as possible. You and Laura especially. Can't have either of you at the park now that we are public."

"Oh shoot." Cleo said. "I completely forgot to factor that in."

"Lucky for you I didn't." Emma said. "We'll all get as much time free as possible. Even if all the four of us have to do is keep an eye on Lewis that will still be an almost full time commitment. Worst case and we all go for it it's going to be absolutely necessary for us to stay out of the public eye for the whole week."

Bella made an indelicate snort. "I did say worse case. Best to be prepared for all possibilities." Bella held up her hands in surrender.

"Lastly," Emma continued. "Lewis will stay with you."

"With me?" Cleo said.

"Yes." Emma answered. "And the same goes for the rest of us should we decide. The guy's stay with us so we can keep an eye on them all the time."

"You think that's really necessary?" Rikki asked?

"Raise your hand if you think the guys will try and take a shower." Emma told them.

"We'll warn them first." Cleo said as Laura raised her hand. "Huh?"

"Raise your hand if you think the reason they'll do it, despite any warnings, is because they believe a bath isn't manly." Laura said.

Cleo groaned as every hand, including hers, was raised.

"I'll work it out that he can sleep on the couch." Cleo said. "Don't try and suggest that he say in my room, my Dad would kill us both."

"True. Which brings me to my last point." Emma said. "For the three of us that still live at home we will need to tell our parents if we choose to do it. That way there are no undue surprises for them."

They all agreed to that.

"Any other questions?" Emma asked. There was a general chorus of negatives. "Then let's head out for now. We have a lot to arrange and a lot of thinking to do."

One by one the others dove down and headed out. Cleo lagged behind not quite ready to leave yet. Once she was alone she floated on her back and looked up at the sky through the cone.

"I hope I'm making the right choice." She said to herself.

* * *

Zane was in the back office looking over the cafe's accounts. He had an accounting text book open and was flipping pages trying to figure out what he was missing when there was a knock at the office door.

"Come in." He said absently while flipping another page.

He heard the door open and then close. He didn't look up still perplexed by what should be a simple task.

"Zane I'm back." He heard Rikki say. He immediately looked up.

"How did it go?" He asked with real concern for her.

"Cleo's going to do it." She answered. "I'm still undecided." She let out a breath.

Zane felt an impulse to ask her for more but his newer, more responsible self crushed it. Instead he asked a more appropriate question. "Anything I can do to help out with that?"

Rikki looked up at him, surprise once again on her face. He was getting better at knowing when her surprise was because he'd done something right. This was one of those times.

"I know me and the others, even you I guess, weren't always friends." He smiled. "But I hope I can say that's all changed. I want to help. More importantly I know, deep down, it's the right thing to do. I guess you were right about all of you rubbing off on me."

Rikki's jaw had dropped by the end of his short speech. He was starting to worry. It didn't look like she was breathing.

"Are you OK?" He asked baffled. "Did I say something wrong?"

Her jaw snapped closed. After a few tries she managed to get her thoughts together.

"No. Actually you did something right." He resisted the urge to jump up and cheer. He was learning what was not appropriate behavior.

"Okay. Just making sure. I'm still getting used to not acting on impulse here." He tried for a light bit of humor to get her talking more.

It seemed to work as she laughed hard enough to fall over on couch. It was the only comfort item he'd left in the office. He'd removed the big screen and the game system. In it's place was a small telly with a DVD player. It was suitable for playing the health training vids for new hires and that was all the new him felt should be in the office. The rest had been redone to focus on the business.

Rikki had approved when he'd done it. She'd even helped get things set up. He was thinking about adding a second desk, or maybe a table and chairs so employees would have somewhere to sit for team meetings. He'd bring it up with Rikki later. He even absently jotted a note to that effect on a sheet of paper in front of him.

Once Rikki calmed down she filled him in on Emma's plan. "She's going to get me killed." He said once she finished.

"What do you mean?" She asked him.

"Well if you do decided to go through with this I'd have to either stay at your place or you'd have to stay at mine. Your Dad would skin me alive." He said.

"Let's not worry about that right now." She said. "Rather would it be possible to have Ash, Emma, and the two of us free next week?"

"Probably not." He said honestly. "Emma and Ash are our managers and we're both owners. No way can all of us just drop everything for a whole week."

"I supposed you are right on that one." Rikki admitted. "But what else can we do?"

"Office work." He said. "One of us will always be here but we won't pull shifts on the floor." Her jaw dropped again. "After all if you or I wanted time off they'd have to do the paper work to cover for us anyways."

"Who are you and where is Zane?" She demanded. "He's been this.. this... what ever you are."

He laughed. "It's me Rikki. I've just finally learned a few things you've been telling me for the last four years. It's finally made sense to me."

"I'm glad." She said. "And it's a perfect idea. Now what are you working on that requires so many books at once."

"Accounting." Zane said sounding martyred. "I know I'm missing something, I just can't figure out what."

"Mind if I take a look at it?" Rikki asked.

"Please by all means." He said letting her take the chair behind the desk. "You were always better at it then I was."

"Grab a chair. If your ego can handle it I'll help you learn it." She offered.

He didn't even feel bad at her comment. His ego was already so beat down from failing at it her offer didn't even register. "Thanks. I can use all the help I can get." Was what he said instead as he stepped out of the office to get one of the extra chairs kept in the stock room.

* * *

Ash had just gotten home when he got a text from Emma. She wanted to talk. He smiled to himself as he sent her a reply asking if she'd like to meet him for dinner. She immediately replied yes.

They agreed to meet at his small apartment. He'd started cooking while waiting for her to arrive. He was just about done when he heard a knock on the door. Sure enough it was her.

"Hi. Come on it. You timing is perfect." He said inviting her in. "It was just finishing."

"So what are we having?" She asked.

"Some pasta, a nice green salad, and homemade garlic bread. I wanted to try a new recipe I found the other day. That is if you don't mind Italian for dinner." He said.

"I don't mind at all." She said. "Anything I can do to help."

If it had been anyone other then Emma he'd have said not to worry, but he knew Emma hated standing around feeling useless while others did the work. "Not with dinner, but if you wouldn't mind getting the place settings ready..."

"Sure thing." She said before he could finish. He smiled at how quickly she set to work. They'd had many meals together since her return from her trip over a year ago and she knew where everything was. She quickly got out what they needed and got the table set.

"I have some soda or juice in the fridge and I took your advice and got one of those water filter pitchers. You were right; you can taste a difference." He said as he brought everything over to the table.

"I'll have some juice." She said.

"And a straw he finished for her." He smiled at her. "I know."

She grimaced and looked away. "Something I said?"

"No. Just ever since the morning of Will's compitition I can't think about a straw without being jealous of Laura." She admitted. "Its just not fair."

"I think I can see your point of view on that one." He said putting two glasses of juice with straws on the table.

"But you don't need one." She stated.

"I know." Was all he answered. Her heartwarming smile was all the reward he needed.

"Well shall I tell you what happened while we eat or save it for later." She asked him.

Ash pondered for a bit while chewing on a bite of bread. After a moment his curiosity won out and he asked her to fill him in while they ate. She filled him in on what they had discussed, and Cleo's decision. She laid out her plan for handling the following week and finished off the admittance that she was still undecided about the whole thing.

"Well," he said as she finished. "Between Zane, Rikki, you, and myself there's no way all four of us can take the whole week off."

"Ugh. You're right." She admitted. "I'll have to talk to Rikki first thing tomorrow."

"Hopefully we'll be able to work something out to avoid spill hazards should worst case happen." He commented.

"So what do you think I should do?" She asked.

"Personally I think that's something only you can answer." He smiled. "I don't mean to be difficult, but I honestly don't know how strongly not knowing effects you."

"You're right." She looked at him. "Logically I should do this. Knowing the answers will help clear up any doubts. My worry is that what if I find I made the wrong choice. I can't get out of this."

"What about that wish stuff? You think that might work?" He asked.

"It's possible. But honestly I don't want to risk it. It's too unpredictable at best and that was with only three of us. I have no idea how much worse it will be with all five of us now." She replied.

"Well I do have one idea." He said.

"What's that?"

"Do what you were planning to do in the first place and sleep on it." He said. "It was a good idea then and I see no reason why it isn't still a good idea now."

"True." She said after a moment of thought. "Very true. I'll help you clean up before I go."

"If you get the left overs I'll do the dishes." He offered.

"You didn't get the gloves and apron for when I visit yet?"

"Not yet."

She just gave him a look. He took it in stride. "I had to special order them remember. I'm just waiting on the post. I have a tracking number and everything so I know they're on the way."

"Fair enough." She relented. "I supposed there's nothing I can do to hurry that along."

"Say," he commented while starting the dishes. "Do you really need to head home tonight?"

"I suppose I could be persuaded to stay." She said. "What did you have in mind?"

He turned to face her noting her smile matched his, probably her thoughts as well.

* * *

Byron was sitting on the beach watching the waves crash onto the shore. He was visualizing how he would surf on each one as it came in. It was a mental exercise that he often did. Its purpose was to help him learn how to read the motion of each wave and prepare him to instinctively move with it. He'd been doing it since he arrived, which was shortly after Laura had left.

He was startled out of his focus when his phone rang. He knew immediately it was Laura, she was the only one he'd set a ring tone for, and he couldn't hold back a smile as he answered it.

"Hey love. How'd everything go?" He asked.

"Hey yourself." She said. "Things went so-so. I'd like to take you up on that offer to talk. Can we meet somewhere?"

"Sure." He looked around. "I'm on the beach right now. If I've got the landmarks right I'm about a ten minute walk from the cove."

"Perfect. I'll meet you there."

"Are you walking or swimming?" He realized after a moment he'd asked that to a dead line. "Well I guess I'd better hurry just in case then." He said to himself as he stood up and put his phone back in his pocket.

Not wanting to keep his girlfriend waiting he opted for a light jog. It was faster then walking and not as tiring as a full out run. It would cut a few minutes off his estimate but if she was swimming, she'd get there first no matter what he did.

He came around the rocks of the cove and paused to look around. He didn't immediately see her, but he supposed she might be laying against the rocks closer to the water. He figured he'd check first and if he didn't see her then he'd try calling her.

Sure enough he found her on the slope of the rocks just beyond the water's reach. She was using her heating trick to dry off. As usual it was taking her some time.

"Hey." He said coming next to her. "I guess you chose to swim after all."

"Byron!" He loved watching her eyes light up every time she saw him. "You got here fast."

"I ran a bit. Figured you might be swimming and didn't want you to have to wait too long." He leaned over and gave her a hello kiss. As usual he had to fight the impulse to hold her and never let go. "Looks like I got here in good time."

"Yes. Sorry this is taking so long." She let out a huff. "Sometimes I wish I could boost my own powers too."

"Not overly surprised you feel that way." He said. "If there is one thing you do complain about it's how much stronger the others are in what they can do."

"It doesn't help that they all have extra powers that I don't share with them." She looked at him and sighed. "I just have watered down versions of their basic powers."

"Well at least you can do a lot of different things if you have too." He hoped that would cheer her up some. He hated seeing her down about this. "That's got to count for something right?"

At that moment she managed to finish getting dry. As she changed back she stood up and walked with him away from the ocean. "I guess so. But that's a topic for another time."

"True enough. So how did everything go?"

"Cleo's going to go for it. Emma and Rikki are undecided. I'm still not sure either." She told him.

"And Bella?" He couldn't keep a smirk off his face as he though how unlikely she would ever go for this.

"Well I think she now has doubts." Laura looked a bit glum at that. It didn't take him long to guess why.

"You told her?" He couldn't help the surprised sound of his voice. "I thought..."

"I know." She sounded even more down as she interrupted him. "But they were talking about their reasons and, like you, they didn't think Bella would go for it," She kicked the sand weakly as she paused.

"Let me guess. Your expression gave it away?"

"Hey!" She seemed annoyed by that. "I'm not that easy to read."

"No. You are." He gave her his best mischievous grin, "But only to those of us that know you well enough to know what to watch for."

"Ugh!" She slumped down on the sand. "And no one knows me better than you all do."

"Actually if I had to rank it I'd put them in the top four with me as number five." He though for a moment. "Will is a close sixth, but only cause you spent so much time coaching him recently."

"I get it. You can stop now." He managed not to laugh. She liked to pretend to be as fiery as her hair would imply but he knew better. She was very even tempered and sweet, but he held up his hands in surrender anyways.

"Well other then that how did it all go?" He asked.

She filled him in on Emma's plan. Afterward he paused to think it over before answering her question on what he thought of it.

"I think it's not half bad." He told her honestly. "Worst case everything is covered and we'll all be supervised."

"And you'd be okay with that?" She had raised her left eyebrow. He knew that meant she didn't believe him one bit. Had it been the right side she would have been amused at his answer. Both at once would have meant surprise. He didn't tell her any of this. No point reminding her how much she actually gave away with her expressions.

"Well the part about the shower would be dead on for most." He told her instead.

"But not you?" The left side again.

"Have you seen me first thing in the morning?" He let out a short bark of a laugh. "I can't even walk a straight line while leaning against the wall until I've either had a shower or a strong cup of coffee. And I'd usually prefer both. I'd do it from being mostly asleep and all."

Her expression at that was one that clearly told him she had a personal story about something similar. He decided to take his chances and asked. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" She answered immediately. He knew that meant it was big. Most likely the others all knew too.

"Should I ask the others then?" He mock threatened. He wouldn't though. He wanted her to tell him personally.

"You wouldn't dare!" She looked hurt that he'd even suggested it.

He let out a breath. She'd called his bluff. He might as well give in with some grace. "You're right. I wouldn't. I'd prefer for you to tell me. But if you don't want to I won't force you too."

She let out a sigh and stared him in the face. He hoped his expression conveyed the truth of that to her. "I guess it's okay if you know too. I just hate admitting it." She mumbled something.

"I didn't quite catch that." He said.

She leaned over and whispered it right into his ear. He was glad he didn't laugh. He knew that would really hurt coming from him. But he couldn't avoid looking shocked.

"Well. I suppose that could have been worse. Did you at least wake up?"

"Yeah. Though more from the fall then the water." She looked at him. "Thanks for being the only one not to laugh at me for it."

"I'd never do that to you." He said and he meant it.

She leaned into him and he put his arm around her. "Byron. I don't know what to do. This is a really big deal and I don't want to make the wrong choice."

"Well I can't tell you what to do, but I can give you some good advice." He looked into her eyes. "Don't rush such an important choice. Consider all sides of it and then make the best choice for you."

"Thanks. That is good advice." She looked out over the water and stared off into the distance. He just waited patiently. He knew she was thinking something over and he wouldn't push her, especially not after having told her not to rush it. She'd let him know if he needed him to help.

"Byron." She said at last.

"Yes love?"

"I want you to take a few days and come up with arguments for me doing it. Then I want you to argue that side for me. I'll come up with all the reasons I shouldn't and take that side."

"You sure?"

"Yes." She said. "It's something my Dad talks about. Sometimes to find the right choice you have to hear both sides in full. It's too mixed up in my head so I'm hoping you'll help me by taking one side of it for me."

He considered what she was asking. He knew that if he did this he'd be doing his absolute best to convince he to do the loan. She wouldn't want anything less. As he realized that he realized that he would do it. For her. If she needed it laid out like a debate or a trial with evidence in order to get a clear picture of the situation then he would help her.

"I'll do it." He said. "I'll help you out." She smiled. "But I won't go easy on you. I know you wouldn't want me to do that. I'll make the best case for that side of it I can so that if you are convinced you'll know it's for the right reasons."

"Thanks. That's exactly what I need." She said and snuggled into his side like girls everywhere always seemed to do. He was finding that it wasn't as unpleasant as he'd once considered it to be.

"How long do I have to get this all ready?"

"Thursday be enough time?"

"Plenty." He looked down at her. "You'd just better be prepared yourself."

"I will be."

They let it be after that. He just sat there and enjoyed her company. He was already beginning to plan things out. He just hoped he didn't regret this.

* * *

Will was relaxing by going over his collection of shells. Lately he'd taken to doing this anytime he was worried for Bella. This was most often when she was about to debut a new song. Her worry about it somehow became his worry too. He gently put down the shell he'd been holding realizing, finally, that Sophie had been right. He should never have waited this long to ask her.

His reverie was broken by a soft knock at the door. He only knew one person that bothered to not only knock but knock softly enough so as not to startle him.

"Come in, Bella." He said. "I'm home."

She opened the door and quietly entered. He'd expected her to look amused or resigned to idea of the others going for this, but she looked like there was something really bothering her.

"Bella what's wrong?" He asked rushing over to comfort her.

"I don't remember, Will." She said, sounding like she was trying hard not to cry.

"Don't remember what?" He asked know that she hadn't meant she didn't remember what was bothering her.

"I don't remember what it was like, you know, before." She said grabbing on to his shirt and burying her face into his chest. He put his arms around her and held her gently, saying nothing, just silently letting her know he was here. "Laura thought of it, but she didn't want to mention it so as not to get me all worked up."

"Sounds like she did anyways." He said.

She sniffed and looked up at him. "Yeah, but not until I made her tell me."

"Why did you do that?" He asked a touch confused.

"Well we were talking about reasons why and she mentioned that even she had some doubts, but it wasn't until Cleo asked me if I had any that she let it slip with her expressions. You know how easy she is to read."

"Only to us. Most others don't pick up on her that easy."

"I guess you're right." He led her over to what passed for his couch and his bed and got her to sit down.

"Please continue." He gently encouraged her.

"Well I didn't catch it, Emma did." She let out a breath. "Laura tried to get us to drop it. She honestly didn't want to be the one to ask me. She wanted me to ask myself this question on my own but after she had refused to answer Emma's request I kind of insisted."

Will held her tightly. "So where does that leave you, then?"

"Right where Laura feared it would. I understand now why she really didn't want to tell me this." She slumped down and rested her arms on her legs. "I don't have doubts about being a mermaid, but I am worried that I'm loosing my past to it. That's something that does worry me."

"So what do you want to do." He asked.

For answer she turned and kissed him deeply. "I want you to make me forget about this for tonight. I don't want to even think about this again until the sun comes back up tomorrow. I'm not ready to face this just yet. Please?"

He didn't even try to resist.

* * *

There was a knock on his door. Lewis rushed out of his small room, almost tripped over more than one stack of books, and nearly slipped on the tile entryway due to wearing only socks, but he managed to make it without mishap.

"I'm here. I'm here." He called out during his haphazard dash. He was more than please to see who was waiting for him. "Cleo hi! Come in, please. Pardon the mess."

She came in and looked at all the stacks of books, most of them for study on one thing or another, and smiled at him. "Don't worry. It's not that bad."

"Sorry I don't have all the book shelves set up yet. I've had other things on my mind."

Cleo gave him the smile that always managed to brighten his day. "I'm going to do it, Lewis."

"You are?" It hit him what she was saying. "You are!"

"Yes. I decided I have to know for sure. I can't do this if I have any doubts."

"The others are OK with this?" He asked. "I mean with your agreement and all."

"Strangely yes." She said moving a stack of books off a pair of chairs so they could both sit down, something he realized he should have done himself, so he hurried to help her. "Everyone other than Bella has doubts as well."

"Ah." He said in understanding. "And as Laura's always so fond of saying they would feel like hypocrites if they said no to you and then asked you to say yes for them."

"Basically." She said. "Emma did decided on a few ground rules though."

"I'm not gonna like this am I?" He guessed.

"Not really." She said. After a deep breath to steady her nerves she filled him in on everything that had been said. Once finished he took a moment to ponder it all.

"You're right. You're Dad would kill me." He finally said. "But at the same time she's right that you'll need to keep an eye on me. So the couch it is."

"I'll work things out with my Dad then. I guess as long as we both agree to the rules he's going to insist on it won't be too bad." She looked somewhere between hopeful and ready for the worst.

"Well don't worry. I'm here for you no matter what."

"Thanks, Lewis." She said and kissed him. "I'd better go and start working things out with Dad. I'll call first thing tomorrow once I have any news for you."

"I'll make sure my phone is fully charged and ready."

"Good night, Lewis." She said as she headed out the door.

"Good night, Cleo." He said back.

Once the door had closed he let out his breath. He now had to get ready to be a merman. He realized he had no idea what to do.


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Note:

A big thanks to all my readers and reviewers. I'm glad you've all stuck with me this long. Sometimes it's a bit of a winding road to get from start to finish and it can be easy to loose the way.

Anyways I need your help now. Last chapter had Byron and Laura make an agreement. Problem is I'm kind of drawing a blank on points for each side of the debate. So I'm asking all of you to submit reasons for one side or the other, or both if you want, and I'll use the best ones and you get your name added to the credits too.

I hope a lot of you will participate. I think it could be fun. Now on with the story.

Chapter 2:

Countdown: Tuesday

Sophie pulled her rental up next to her brothers boat house. She turned off the car, grabbed her coffee from the cup holder and finished it off, then, after a quick glance at the clock, she got out. It was just after 6:30 in the morning and it had been a week since she'd last talked to Will. She wanted answers.

Setting her self she strode purposefully towards the door. She grabbed the handle and shoved it open.

"Morning, Will. We need to... Oh God!" She broke off as what she saw finally registered on her mind. Clothes were strewn all over the floor, not all of them belonged to her brother. No, most, she realized, belonged to the young woman that was curled up in bed next to him. The blanket had slipped down and only came up to their waists, and barely at that.

Both of them had snapped awake at her sudden entrance and now stared at her in wide eyed horror.

"Sophie! Get out. OUT!" Will practically yelled at her as he recovered first. Bella was trying to grab the blanket to cover herself.

Sophie stumbled backwards, somehow, despite all reason, unable to turn away. Once outside and her view blocked she staggered over to the car and leaned over the hood. She tried, and failed, to shake the horrible image from her mind. Eventually she heard footsteps approach her from behind. They stopped a short distance away and who ever it was just waited.

She turned slowly her eyes half closed and a hand ready to cover each of them if needed.

"I have shorts on now. You can turn around." Will said.

"I'm so sorry." She said. "I swear I will knock from now on." She meant that too. After today it wasn't something she was ever likely to forget.

"So why did you come so early and unannounced?" He asked. His arms were crossed, she noted absently, and he was scowling too.

"Well it concerns-" She finished with a gesture towards the beach house. Will was smart and he understood she was referring to the girl inside and not the house.

"Ah." He said. "And I suppose that with her here we can't talk about this?" She shook her head. "If you really want to know then stay by your phone. I'll call you later."

"Okay." She let out a breath. "I guess I should go now before I make things any worse." She didn't wait for a reply as she quickly got in the rental and drove away. She planned to head back to her hotel room, after a quick stop at the local corner store. Early morning or not, after what she'd accidentally seen, she really needed a drink.

* * *

Will stood and watched as his sister drove off. He waited until she was out of site before finally relaxing and heading back inside. He noted that Bella's hands were shaking as he came in, and it was making it hard for her to get dressed again. He came up and put his arms around her, holding her gently.

"You OK?" He asked softly. "I know that was a bit... unexpected."

"How can you be so calm about it?" She asked. "I'm still shaking."

"Because," he said tilting her eyes up to his. "You're not the person I'm upset with."

"Oh." She said. He could see it in her eyes as it sunk in and she calmed down. After all she wasn't mad at him. "I guess that makes sense."

She gently pushed away so she could finish getting dressed. He helped by picking up her clothes and holding them out to her. Once she was finished they sat down.

"So aside from that rather startling wake up call, how are you feeling?" He asked her.

"Better. Thanks to you." She said and then let out a deep breath. "I'm still not sure what to do though. I love my life, really I do, its just that..." She paused. "I just feel like I'm loosing my past."

"Well," he said thoughtfully. "You could always try it. Unlike the others you wouldn't feel the need to stay that way so it wouldn't break your pact."

"You think I should?" She asked looking distraught.

"Maybe. Maybe not." Will smiled at her. "I don't think you should rush into this. Unlike the others you're not doubting if this is the life you want. So you have to decide if reclaiming a bit of your past is worth a week of your life."

"I guess you're right. I'm not wondering if this is the right thing for me like the others. I just don't know if it's worth it." She looked over at him. "I really need to think on this one."

"Well if you need advice or support I'll always be here for you." He gave her a half grin. "Never doubt that."

She kissed him. It was all the answer he needed. Suddenly her kissed changed, turning hungry. "Didn't you just finish getting dressed?" He asked between her kisses.

"So?" She answered as she started to push him back on the bed.

Well at least they wouldn't have Sophie barging in again, he thought as he gave in to her.

* * *

It was just before 7 am when I finally dragged myself out of bed. The coffee was already brewed and I quickly helped myself to it. I sipped it slowly, giving it time to kick in, and headed out to the kitchen. I figured I'd have breakfast now and get dressed after.

"Bella you awake?" I called. I had the fridge open and was looking for something when I realized she hadn't answered. I put my cup on the counter and headed to her room. "Bella?"

First thing I noted was her door was open, and the second thing was that her bed was too neat for her to have slept in. I chuckled to myself as I went back to the kitchen. I could guess where she'd been all night. Looked like it was breakfast for one today.

After eating and getting ready I headed over to Emma's. I needed to talk to her before work. I had a few things about how to pitch needing next week off to Laurie that I could use her help with. I wouldn't be up this early otherwise.

I got to her house and politely knocked. I know it was early but Emma was usually already up by now. However it wasn't Emma that answered the door.

"Oh good morning, Laura." Neil said. "If you're looking for Emma she never came home last night."

"Never came home?" I asked stunned.

"She sent a message saying she was staying at a friends place." Lisa called from the kitchen.

"Okay. Thanks." I said. "I guess I'll ask around and see where she is."

I waved politely as I headed away. Now where would she be? I doubted she'd be with Bella and Will. She wouldn't be over at Rikki's. She might be at Cleo's. Well only one way to find out. I walked around Emma's house to the water. This way would be faster and I'd get stared at less.

In short order I was pulling myself out of the water behind Cleo's house. I wasn't easy, never was, but we'd gotten used to it. I was so focused on that task I didn't realize I wasn't alone until my observer spoke.

"What are you doing up this early?" I looked up at Cleo.

"How did you know I was here?"

"Saw you from my window." She said and pointed to the second floor.

"Oh right. Some help please?" I held out a hand.

"And end up down there with you?" Oh right. I guess the coffee could only do so much. I yawned.

Cleo held out her hand, fingers spread and curled, and the water pushed me the last bit of the way out onto the dock. Another twist of her hand and I was suddenly completely dry. "I guess that works to."

"So what are you doing here this early." Cleo asked me.

"Looking for Emma." I said. "She wasn't at home last night and she left a message for her family that she was staying at a friends."

"Well she's not here." Cleo said. "I would assume by the fact that you're looking she wasn't with you and Bella either."

"I doubt she'd be at Rikki's," I said. "I guess I'm out of options."

"She couldn't be at... could she?" Cleo looked doubtful.

"What are you thinking?" I wasn't awake enough even after the coffee and the swim to follow her trail of thought.

"Ash. She could be with Ash." Cleo said. "But I can't think of what she'd be doing there all night."

I started laughing. "I can think of something." I said. "It's the same something that is why Bella didn't come home last night either. And you don't know about that?"

"More like I was trying not to think about it, you know." She looked a bit uncomfortable.

"I guess I can understand that." I said reining in my laughter. "So you and Lewis..."

"None of your business." She said primly. "I could ask about you and Byron if you like."

"Not yet." I answered. She squirmed and looked even more uncomfortable then before.

"How can you answer that so easily." She asked confused.

"Probably because there is nothing to say. Not that Bella hasn't suggested I try." I shuddered remembering that conversation. "On second though forget about that."

We both shared a laugh. "So do you know where Ash lives?" Cleo asked.

"No. I have his number in case I need to send out a group message but I didn't think it was proper to ask where he lived. I'm not his girlfriend."

"Well then I guess you better message Em so you have time for us to talk to her before work."

"Us?" Now I was confused.

"Yeah. I assume you wanted her advice on talking to Laurie today?" I nodded. "Well I did too. I was about to over to her place before I saw you in the water."

"Ah." Guess Emma was the go to person for planning. I pulled out my phone and sent her a message.

* * *

Emma was curled up around Ash. She was sleeping in a bit, something she rarely did, when her phone buzzed.

"Someone's messaging you, love." Ash told her. This close she loved the way his voice rumbled in his chest and she curled closer. "Do you at least want to look? Before they resort to calling?"

She sighed. "I might as well. Where is my phone anyways."

"I think you put it on the nightstand after you sent the message to your family."

"Oh right." She reached across him to find her phone.

"Mmmmm... I like that." Ash said.

"Oh don't go starting anything just yet." She told him. "It is far to early for that."

She grabbed her phone and opened the message. It read: Hey Em. Know you're with Ash. Hope you had fun. Need to talk. L/C

She groaned. "What is it?" Ash asked. She handed him the phone so he could read it. He had turned bright red by the end. "How ever did they figure out you were here all night?"

"I don't know. But I do know it's from Laura. She never bothers with shorthand."

"I guess you'd better go talk to them before they find a way to track down where I live and just show up here."

She groaned again. "I think you're right." She thought for a moment. "It's around 7:30 now. They don't have to be to work for a while, Cleo especially since she has an afternoon shift. I think they have time to meet me at Mako." She quickly sent the reply and started to get dressed.

"Think you'll have time for breakfast?" Ash asked her while she typed.

"Probably not." She said. "But we both have the day free so I can be back for lunch."

"Let's have lunch at the cafe. We do need to work out things with Rikki for next week no matter what you chose to do."

"Good point. I'll meet you there for lunch." He kissed her as she went past. "Don't keep me waiting."

"I won't." He said. She smiled and headed out.

* * *

Cleo didn't enjoy the swim to the moon pool as much as she usually did. Her mind was too full of worry about how everything would go next week. With Lewis, with herself, getting time off, and more. At least meeting with Emma would help with some of that.

The were almost to the moon pool when Emma caught up to them and took the lead. Neither Laura or she bothered to challenge Emma on it. Rikki was the next most competitive one after Emma.

Emma pounced on them as soon as they surfaced. "So how did you know where I was?"

"Well you weren't at home when I stopped by," Laura said.

"You weren't at my place when she came there next and we both know you weren't over at Rikki's either." Cleo added starting to feel a bit worried about how Emma would react.

"And since you were the one looking you knew I wasn't at your place." Emma said looking at Laura.

"Well yes. I knew you weren't at my place and I'm very sure you weren't with Bella either." Laura said then realizing what she'd said her eyes got wide and she clamped her mouth shut.

Cleo watched as Emma's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait? Bella wasn't at your place last night?" Emma asked. Laura started to turn red.

"Nope. She let that slip to me earlier." Cleo told her. Laura looked away.

"Oh I can guess where she was." Emma practically sang.

"I'm sure you can. Let's just drop it for now." Cleo said..

"Will's." Emma said anyways.

"I agree with Cleo," Laura said finally. "This is not the time for that."

"OK." Emma said. "So what did you need to talk about?"

"We need..." she and Laura started at the same time then stopped.

"You say it." Cleo offered.

Laura nodded and turned to Emma. "We need some advice on how to talk to Laurie about next week."

Cleo watched as Emma turned that over in her head. It took a while. It was a bit of a tall order after all so she hadn't been expecting a quick answer.

"Well I guess you should just be straight with him. He's read the reports so he knows a lot about us." Emma said.

"And mentioning the switch?" Cleo asked nervous.

"Only mention that if you end up having too. The less that know about that the better." Emma turned to Laura. "That goes for you too."

Laura just stared back with her right eyebrow raised.

"She means your friend and our bane." Cleo clarified.

Laura sighed. "Trust me she'll notice. Even if I say nothing. And really can't you let the past be the past? She knows you can't forgive her, but can you try and make a fresh start?"

Emma just stared at her.

"Ease up Em." Cleo said. "You know it's not her you're mad at."

"I know." Emma said with a sigh. "I just don't understand how you can be friends with her."

"Well to put it like Bella did." Laura explained. "We were never locked in a cage so we've had a much different experience."

Emma finally relaxed. "I guess you're right, from that point of view. You actually worked with her for over a year and she even helped you get set up here too."

"It's no wonder you like her." Cleo finished. "She's been nothing but helpful to you." She let out a breath. "But we can't ever forget."

"She knows." Laura said softly. "She's not asking for forgiveness, she knows she won't ever get that, but just a chance to put that in the past and start over, the right way this time."

"We'll think about it." Emma said. "But you understand that there are no promises. Right?"

"Right." Laura tilted her head to the side. "How did we get from help talking to Laurie to talking about Linda?"

"Linda?" Cleo had to admit she was shocked that Laura was calling Denman by her first name now.

"I'm not her student or assistant anymore. Now quit changing the subject you two." She tried for a sever look but both of them knew it was just that: a look.

"OK. OK. Easy." Emma said. "Just talk to him and keep it simple. Tell him only what you need to for it to all work. The less questions the better."

"Sounds good." Laura said.

"What are you going to do about next week?" Cleo asked.

"I have to talk to Rikki and Zane about that." Emma said. "Can't have all four of us off for a whole week so we're all gonna have to work out the details. I'm meeting Ash for lunch at the Cafe. I know Rikki is working today so we'll talk with her some then."

"That's good." Cleo said. "But you need to go. It's almost 9 now." She said turning to Laura.

"I know. I know." The redhead said. "I was wondering if you would come with me so we can talk to him together and all."

"Okay. But why?"

"It was easier last time we had something big to talk about with him and we did it together is all." Laura said. "I figured to stick with what works."

"OK. I'll meet you there. I just need to talk to Emma a bit first." Cleo looked over to Emma, only to find she wasn't there. "Where did she go?"

"She left the moment you reminded me I needed to leave. She obviously didn't want to stay and answer questions." Laura said.

"I was going to talk about Denman actually but I suppose that can wait. Laurie and work are two much bigger issues right now."

"Yeah. Swim to work?" Laura asked.

"Sure. Might as well. We're already in the water."

* * *

Laurie was making his usual morning rounds when he noticed a crowd forming near one of the open pools. He made his way over, already suspecting he knew what the cause was. He wasn't disappointed. With the first shows not being for at least another 2 hours he'd let Ronnie out into his public showing tank, and, as usual when the girls chose the water entrance, he rounded them up and tried to get them to play.

"OK everyone move along." He yelled out. "Let's go." He waived over one of the security officers the park kept on hand ever since Ronnie once got loose, somehow.

The guard just nodded and after a call on his radio began to get the crowd of people to move along. Once things were quite Laurie turned to the pool only to notice a flash of orange heading towards the back tanks. Ronnie was also following them. Laurie just sighed once again thinking about how much more interesting things were these days now that the girls weren't hiding what they were.

He quickly headed to the back to see why they were here so early. By the time he'd taken the time to go around all the fences the girls were out of the water and trying to convince Ronnie they'd be back later. Laurie just laughed softly to himself as he watched how well the girls worked with the dolphin.

"So what brings you in so early today, girls?" He called out as he walked up.

"We needed to discuss something with you," Cleo began.

"And we wanted to do it before we started work for the day." Laura finished.

He thought for a moment. This spot, while out of view from the general public, was still too open. He guessed they needed to talk about something regarding mermaids from their tone. He sighed to himself as he realized the best place would be his office.

"Let's go to my office. I assume you don't want this conversation to be general knowledge." He said as he led them towards the office buildings.

"No we don't." Laura said.

"Thanks for understanding." Cleo added.

He just gave a quick smile over his shoulder and continued on. Once they got to his office they all got seated and the girls began to explain.

"We were wondering if there was any way we could get next week free?" Cleo asked.

"Both of you?" They nodded. "For the whole week?" Another nod. "I have to ask why only due it being such short notice."

"It has to do with the partial eclipse." Laura said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" He asked confused. He didn't remember anything in the publications mentioning anything like that.

"I guess we'll have to explain about how the moon can effect us and our powers." Cleo said after a short wait.

The explanation that followed was one that left him with a lot more questions then ever.

"So let me get this straight," he said. "The moon can make you act oddly?"

"Just the full moon." Cleo said. "And it's not something we want to be generally known."

"And a full eclipse can return you to being human for twelve hours." He stated.

"Yes." Laura answered. "Or so I've heard. I've never tried it but Cleo has." Cleo was nodding.

"So the partial eclipse shouldn't be that bad. You'd be fine by morning." He said.

"Not exactly." Cleo admitted.

Now he was curious. He tried to not let it show, but after finding that he'd leaned closer over his desk he realized he'd completely failed.

"I guess we have to tell him." Laura said to Cleo who just nodded.

"You go for this one." Cleo told her friend.

"The partial nature of the eclipse both pulls our powers away and puts them back." Laura said. "On it's own nothing would change, but if we are in contact with someone else, that is not a mermaid, they sort of..." She paused a moment to think. "Borrow I guess is the best way to describe it, our powers for a while."

"One week actually if Lewis' sources are correct." Cleo added.

He leaned back stunned. He needed a moment to think over all this. After a while he spoke again. "So you plan to do this?"

"I do." Cleo said. "The other are still thinking about it."

"But we agreed that it would be best to get things set up now in case we did, and so that we could keep an eye on the guys." Laura said.

"They guys?" He blinked. "You can loan you powers to a man? I though only girls could be, well you know."

"I guess for this it doesn't count." Cleo said. "Not that we truly understand any of this."

"I see." He said. "Well I guess it should be easy enough for you Cleo. You've worked here for almost three years now and you haven't taken any time off. So you have a lot of vacation day's saved up."

"Thanks. That's good." Cleo said sounding relieved.

"But I missed three weeks back when I got found out and I only just started this year." Laura said.

"Yes. But I can give you a few days if you only need to keep an eye on someone. If you do go for it we'll have to figure out something." He said.

"Just so long as I can avoid water completely during that time. I won't have my powers and that might be difficult to explain." Laura said. "That's why we wanted to be off to hopefully avoid the problem completely."

"Hmmmm..." He nodded as he considered the girls logic. If Laura didn't make up her mind till the end of the week then it really would be too short of notice to get any time off. Also there were the duties she was expected to perform, most of which involved being in or around the water. "Okay. But it'll be on the books as a time deficit. You won't be able to take any more time off after this until you earn it back." He said at last.

He liked the girls. They worked hard and truly cared about the marine life. Their being part marine life themselves was another reason. He loved all sea life, and wanted to do anything he could to help it along. That often included finding a compromise for the odd situation the girls invariably found themselves in.

"I can accept that." Laura said. "It sounds completely fair."

"Good. I'll take care of the paper work." He sighed. He hated paperwork, but it came with the job. He glanced up at the clock. "And you need to get started for the day." He pointed at Laura.

The girls both hopped to their feet and hurried off. He made a quick note in his log book then he hurried off to get ready for the first show of the day.

* * *

Cleo left the park by the more normal route of the main gate and quickly hurried to see Lewis. She tried her best to ignore the stares by people that recognized her as a mermaid and again wondered how Laura had put up with it for so long. She knew this would only get worse because at this hour of the day Lewis wouldn't be at home. No he'd be fishing at one of his favorite spots.

She hurried towards the closest of them hoping he'd be there and she'd have a short search. No such luck as it turned out. She'd ended up having to check more then half of them and after the third one she had given up on walking and just dove into the water. It was both faster and avoided crowds.

In truth she found his lure first. She wondered once again how any self respecting fish would ever go for it but for some reason they did. She surfaced near the dock he was on. He noticed her immediately.

"Cleo," he had a genuine smile of pleasure upon seeing her and it made her feel good. "Hi. How are you today?"

"I'm good." She answered. "Could you give me a hand here?"

"Sure." He quickly reeled in his line and put his fishing rod aside then offered her a hand. "You're not gonna try and pull me in are you?"

"I'd have just looped you up with water if I was going to do that." She told him. She would too; it would be far easier after all.

"Right." He answered as he helped pull her out of the water. "I think I have a towel around here somewhere. Just give me a moment to find it."

"Don't bother. I'll get dry myself. I still need more work on drying myself." She told him as she began to focus.

"You can?" He sounded surprised. "Wow! You really can!" He added as he saw her get herself dry.

"Still takes me a few tries to get it right though." She told him but was secretly glad it had only taken her three attempts this time. She was slowly getting better.

"So what's up?" He asked. "I thought I wouldn't be seeing you until it was time to talk to your parents tonight."

"Well I wanted to work how we would go about doing that." She looked at him. "You know."

"I though Emma was the one that planned everything out." She laughed.

"I can too. Ya know." She said.

"I know." He said as he put an arm around her. "I'm just not looking forward to this no matter how we go about it. I fully expect to be running for my life before the end of it."

"My Dad's not that bad." She told him. "He actually likes you."

"He liked me more before we started officially dating and you know it." They shared a laugh at the ironic truth of that.

"I was thinking we'd be better off explaining about the moon and that I'm going to do it and I chose you to loan my powers to."

"And then get to it's best to keep me near by so you can keep me out of trouble?"

"Basically. I figured that would be the safest approach. What do you think?" Cleo asked.

She watched his face as he though about it. She loved to watch him think. The way he looked as he turned something over in his head was something she never got tired of seeing. She watched closely waiting for the moment he finished thinking. By watching closely she could often tell what kind of choice he'd come to.

He turned to her about to say something. But she could tell from his expression that he'd come to agree with her. "Thanks Lewis. You're the best!"

"But I didn't say anything yet." He looked confused.

She kissed him. "You didn't have to. I know you well enough to just know."

"Not sure how I feel about that." He admitted. "But yeah I do agree that is the safest plan to go with. He's still going to set some limits of his own though."

"I'm hoping to stall him on that a bit." She said.

"And how do you plan to accomplish that?" He asked doubtful she, or anyone, could pull that off.

"I'll ask him to make up a list of rules and not lay them out until Sunday when you bring your stuff over. That should keep him from making them in the heat of the moment. Plus I'm hoping that way Sam might be able to keep him in check a bit."

"I go away to study abroad and when I come back this lovely girl I'm fond of has grown in to the most beautiful genius I've ever known." He told her.

She felt her face get warm as she blushed. She didn't know how to answer that kind of honesty so she just stared at him. He took the opportunity to kiss her.

"I wonder what would happen if I went away again?" He asked her.

"I'd follow you. Even if I had to swim the whole way there." She said. "I'm not going to loose you again."

"Thank you." He said. She looked at him curiously, his expression said he'd come to some kind of decision but she couldn't remember asking him a question.

* * *

Emma had hurried away as soon as Cleo had gotten distracted talking to Laura. Cleo was one of her best friends but she wasn't ready to go into the whole night at Ash's place with her. She knew she'd have to answer her questions eventually, but she wasn't ready to just now. So she'd fled.

Now she found herself with nothing to do until lunch. She didn't feel like going to the cafe early and she knew the others would be heading to the park to talk to Laurie. She could visit Rikki, but seeing as she planned to catch her at the cafe later that seemed a bit needless. So she decided to go visit with Bella and Will. They, at least, couldn't hassle her about spending the night with Ash.

She took off. She dove under arches of coral and swerved around outcroppings of rocks. She enjoyed the thrill of swimming faster then anything else.

But something felt off today. Not one to let something like this sit she thought it over while swimming. It didn't take her too much time to figure out what was bothering her. She missed swimming competitions. For all her speed she had only her sisters to race, and most of them weren't into racing.

She sighed to herself as she approached Will boat house. She slowed down so she wouldn't hit anything this close to shore and started looking for some loose stones. She found a bunch of small ones and grabbed them up. She planned to use them to knock on the door.

She surfaced and started tossing the stones at the door. She only had to toss a few before Will stuck his head out the side window and waved.

"Morning Emma." He greeted her. "What brings you out here."

"Just came to talk for a bit before I go meet Ash for lunch today." She answered.

Will pulled his head inside in response to something she couldn't hear. He said something and after another moment he stuck his head out again. "Bella want's to know if you want to come inside or stay out there?"

"I have no way to get dry unless you can help." She told him.

"I'll be right out Em." Bella called out.

"No problem. Not like I'm going anywhere." Emma said as she pulled herself out of the water.

She didn't have to wait long before Bella came outside. For a brief moment Emma wondered how she planned to help get her dry with out towels until Bella made all the water on her fall off as gel. Emma tried to not let her aggravation with being the only one who's powers didn't accommodate self drying show.

"You'll figure something out." Bella said. Emma suddenly understood Laura's impulses to hit her head on things. Sometimes you just needed too.

"If I tried I'd be a fishcicle in a second." Emma told her.

"So how did you know I'd be here?" Bella asked.

Emma wasn't surprised by the question. They didn't make a habit of visiting each others boyfriends on a whim.

"Laura let slip you didn't go home last night. Don't worry I won't say anything. I didn't go home last night either." Emma said.

Bella spun around suddenly, her eyes were wide in surprise, even more so when her sudden spin caused her to slip and fall off the short boardwalk over the water that lead to the front door. Emma thew up her hands in reflex to freeze the splashes of water that came her way.

"You OK?" Emma asked her friend as Bella resurfaced.

"Is everyone alright?" Will blurted out as he ran out the door and came to the edge.

"Yeah. We're just fine." Bella said from the water. "Could you push her in please?" She asked with with an overly sweet grin.

"What did you say to her?" Will asked with a sigh?

"Nothing." Emma said.

"When Bella gives that look 'nothing' doesn't cut it." He told her.

"It's girl stuff." Emma told him. "Now are you going to help her out or not?"

"Me?" He asked surprised. "I didn't cause this, and …" He didn't get to finish as Bella had twisted to the side and used her tail to spray them both with water.

"Now you have to get in." She said.

"Ugh!" Emma groaned but she dove in all the same. "Was that completely necessary?" She asked Bella once she got back to the surface.

Bella just smiled.

"Did you want me to dive in too or should I leave you girls to figure this out?" Will asked still dripping.

"Oh. Sorry honey. You can go inside. We'll be right there." Bella told him.

"We will?" Emma asked her.

"Yes. We're even now. We'll talk later. Just us."

"Okay. I guess that's good enough for now."

A short while later they were dry and had joined Will inside. He was still drying off and so the girls made sure to keep a good distance from him.

"So what brings you out here?" Bella asked.

"I wanted to talk some about this whole thing." Emma said. "I'm not sure what to do. I like being a mermaid and I've come to accept it..."

"But?" Bella prompted her.

"But there are things I'm starting to realize I miss. Like racing at swim meets." Emma said.

"But you don't know if those are more important to you then what you have now, right?" Will guessed.

"Yeah."

"I think I understand." Bella said. "I love this but ever since last night I've been worried that I was so young when this happened that I'm loosing part of myself to it. I don't know yet if I want to do this just to recover a part of myself I've almost completely forgotten."

"You have doubts?" Emma said shocked.

"No. Not doubts." Bella said calmly. "Just a fear that I'm loosing a part of myself. Remember I've been a mermaid for over half my life. I was only nine when I first changed. It's been so long now I don't remember my life from before."

"And she isn't sure yet if it's worth taking a week to remember that." Will said. "But what ever she decides to do I'll support her and I don't doubt for a moment that you guys will too."

"He's right about that Bella." Emma told her. "We will."

"Thanks." She said. "That's good to hear. Even if I already knew it."

"So you came to ask for advice then?" Bella said bringing the topic back to why she'd come to visit.

"Yeah. I just hope I'm not interrupting your time together." Emma told them.

"Oh no. Sophie did that just fine this morning." Bella said.

"Which reminds me I told her I'd call later." Will said.

"Well it's after 10 now. We could go to the cafe and all have lunch." Bella offered. "You did say you were meeting Ash."

"Would you stop grinning like that." Emma told her. "I shouldn't have told you."

"Too late now. So we going or not?" She asked.

"So is this something I should know about or what?" Will asked.

"Ummm..." Emma looked to Bella. Bella started to say something but ended up just shrugging.

"Let's go to lunch. Will, you can join us if you like." Emma said instead.

"Ooookaaaay..." He said looking completely lost. "I'll call Sophie and then meet you there."

Emma pulled out her phone and quickly sent a message to Ash to let him know they were going to the cafe a bit early and he was welcome to show up early too. Then she and Bella headed out side and dove into the water.

* * *

The phone rang several times before someone answered it. Will had been starting to worry that Sophie wasn't going to answer. Though after he heard her voice he began to wish she hadn't.

"Hello?" His sister's voice slurred.

"Sophie? Have you been drinking?" He demanded

"Hey! After what I saw I have every right to." Her voice was definitely slurred.

"Maybe this isn't the best time for this." He said.

"Hey. You put yourself in my shoes." She told him. He heard something being poured.

"What ever do you mean by that?" He asked with a resigned sigh.

"Imagine, for the sake of argument," a pause as he heard her swallow something. "And tell me what you'd do if you'd accidentally walked in and it had been me like that."

Okay he had to admit to himself that even underage he'd have wanted something to help him forget such a horror. "OK you do have a point."

"Thought you'd see it that way." She replied. "But just in case you wanted to know. It won't work."

"Yet you're still drinking." He said.

"I switched to water to try and sober up a while ago." She swallowed something again. "The beer wasn't working anyways."

"Right." He said pinching the bridge of his nose. "So you wanted to know about the ring if I remember right."

"Yup."

"It will be finished next Wednesday and I plan to ask her a few days or so after." He said. "That work for you?"

"Yup. That works." She said. "And again I swear that I will never again forget to knock."

"Don't worry, I also plan to get a lock for that door." He told her.

"Good. Now if you'll pardon me I don't feel so good." She hung up before he could respond.

"Yeah. Definitely time to get a lock." He said to himself.

* * *

Rikki arrived at the cafe early. She planned to grab a quick lunch before having to take over for the afternoon. She hadn't expected to see Bella, Emma, and Ash. She really didn't expect them to wave her over.

"Hey Rikki, you got a moment?" Emma called out.

"I guess I might." She said as she walked over. "What's up?"

"I wanted..." she began.

"We wanted," Ash corrected.

"Right. We wanted to talk about next week." She said. "You know."

Rikki gave a slow nod and looked around. "Office." Was all she said.

"Meet you there." Emma said.

"I'll wait out here for Will." Bella said. "He should be here soon."

"Okay. This shouldn't take too long anyways." Emma told her. "Save us a seat."

"This better not take too long I have to work today." Rikki huffed as she followed Emma and Ash to the office.

"So we need to figure out what to do next week." Emma said as soon as the door closed.

"Already worked it out with Zane." Rikki said.

"You?" Emma said looking stunned. "You already planed it out?"

"I can do that too you know." Rikki said. "You're not the only one that can plan things."

"Easy girls." Ash said. "Please don't argue."

"Fine!" Emma exclaimed. "But I still don't buy it."

"We worked this out a while ago just in case Zane or I ever wanted to take some time off." Rikki told them. "We'd have to have one or both of you take over some of the office work that we normally do."

"You sure you didn't just come up with this last night?" Emma asked looking suspicious.

"Of course not." Rikki told her while trying to keep a straight face. "Why would you even ask?"

"Because you never told us about this until now." Ash said.

Rikki thought fast. She had no idea how to get out of this one. She'd forgotten for the moment just how logical and organized Emma was, and Ash was not that far behind her in that aspect either. Furthermore it had been Zane's idea, not hers, and he had only come up with last night. Not that she would ever admit either of those things to the two in front of her right now.

"Well. Neither of us needed time off before now so it wasn't an issue." She told them. Emma's expression said she still didn't believe that but Ash took her hand and just gave her a look.

"Fine. It's not really important when you figured it out, only that you did." Emma said. "I can't come up with anything better so I guess we'll have to make it work."

"So we'll be trading shifts of office work and avoiding the spill hazards of the sales floor then." Ash summed up.

"Yup." Rikki said. "Cause I'm thinking I should go for it. I've been thinking about it all morning, and I even talked to my Dad about it too."

"Really?" Emma said. "This seems rather sudden. You were the most eager back when this all started."

"I know, but," Rikki wasn't sure how to explain that she needed to know if all the good stuff in her life was because of the change or if it was really just from her. "I just need to find something out. I realized that my doubts about being a mermaid stemmed from something else." She said instead.

"And you need to know about that something else to know something? Right?" Ash asked.

"That's about it." Rikki said. "I just don't know how to explain it, but I just need know."

"Well if you're sure?" Rikki nodded in answer to Emma's query. "Then you should do it. We've planed for worst case so we already have a plan to work with."

"Thanks Em." Rikki said.

"Now you just have to tell Zane and everyone else." Emma said. Rikki paled, she wasn't looking forward to that part. "If you don't mind we'll step out for now. Ash promised me lunch and you said you needed to get ready to work today."

"You suggested lunch." Ash told her.

"Yes, but as an alternative to your offer to get me breakfast." Emma said with a smile as they stepped out.

Rikki didn't get to hear Ash's reply to her as the door had already closed behind them.

"Oh what have I done now?" She asked herself realizing that now that she'd made the choice she couldn't back out. It wasn't in her nature to.

* * *

It was the last dolphin show for the day and Cleo had decided to test going out in the water with the dolphins. She'd talked it over with Laura all afternoon and she had suggested using the last show of the day as the test run. Laura's most decisive argument had been that the last show usually had the smallest crowd so there would be less people there.

This had been aided by the fact that during every other show the crowd had been using various chants to try and convince her to get in the water. So she finally just figured she do it and get it over with.

She was currently hiding out of sight in the water with the dolphins in the backstage waiting tank. Both Laurie and Laura were there with her.

"We start in five minutes." Laurie said. "You really ready for this."

"Sooner or later it's going to happen. I'd rather just get it over with." Cleo said.

"You know I had a thought." Laura said. "Don't do this every show."

"Why not?" Laurie asked.

"Suspense." Laura said. "If they don't know when they'll get to see her it will improve the crowds."

"Not a bad idea. But that's up to you, Cleo." He said.

"Let's get through this one and we'll see." Cleo offered. She was beyond nervous, but felt she had to do something to balance things in her life. And to get her mind off of next week as well

"Two minutes boss." One of the other trainers called out from the door to the stage area.

"Alright." Laurie said standing and turning. "Have everyone get in their places and cue the techs that we will have a special treat for our audience tonight. See you out there Cleo." He hurried out to the stage area.

"Oh what am I doing?" Cleo said.

"Want me to join you?" Laura offered.

"No." Cleo let out a deep breath. "I have to do this alone."

"I'll be at the door then. The crowd won't see me but I won't just run off." Laura smiled down at her. "I be here for you."

"Thanks that helps some." They heard the show start and Laurie begin his opening speech. "He's going to do introductions soon so I'll be up shortly."

"Have a good show." Laura said and hurried off to the door where she could see without being seen.

Cleo took one more breath as she listed to the introductions of the other trainers. Finally she heard what she'd been waiting for.

"And finally we have a special treat for you all tonight. Newly promoted to full trainer, our very own Cleo Sertori will be joining the dolphins in the water for the first time. Please give her a warm welcome."

"Here we go." Cleo said to herself and swam out to the front.

The show went on. Cleo had the dolphins do tricks. She swam next to them. Waved to the cheering crowd. Even joined one of the newer dolphins in a jump, as encouragement, and forgot for a moment all the things that worried her. The crowd stayed back, thankfully, and she found that overall she had a great time.

Laura was waiting for her in the back once she was finished. The redhead had a huge smile on her face and was practically bursting with excitement.

"Cleo! You were amazing!" She said as soon as Cleo surfaced.

"That was actually a lot of fun." Cleo said back. "I didn't think I'd enjoy being in front of the crowd like that but I actually enjoyed myself."

"Cleo!" Laurie called out as he came through the divider between the front and back. "How do you feel now that you've done it?"

"I feel great actually." Cleo told him. "Strangely I enjoyed that. Can you help me out though?"

"Laura why didn't you help her already?" He asked as he hurried over to give Cleo a hand out of the water.

"Probably because if I helped her I'd have just ended up in the water with her." Laura reminded him.

"Oh. Right." He said sheepishly. "I'll remember that one of these days."

"Not like we can ever forget though." Cleo said as she was pulled clear of the water.

"I'll get you some towels." Laurie said rushing off.

"Want some help getting dry?" Laura asked.

"You using one of your smaller powers or your main one?" Cleo asked her while trying to focus her powers grip on just the water on her skin.

"The main one." Laura said.

"No thanks. This is more an issue of precise focus then raw power." Cleo explained as she tried again.

"Too bad we can't combine my powers precision with your powers strength." Laura complained.

"I know what you mean." Cleo said as she got her focus right and felt the water slid right off her skin. "I just don't get why it is so much harder for me to focus on the water on myself then on you guys."

"I think if you can figure that out you'll be able to get yourself dry faster." Laura said offering Cleo a hand to her feet.

"I guess you don't need the towel after all." Laurie said come to a halt. "How did you do that anyways?"

"Practice. Lot's and lot's of practice." Cleo told him since he already knew about her ability to manipulate water.

"Well it has to be kind of handy for you." He said. "So will you be doing this again?"

"I think I will." Cleo told him. "But for now I should get home and get stuff ready for next week."

"Right." He agreed. "See you tomorrow and good luck."

"Thanks Laurie." She said. "You want to walk with me?" She asked Laura.

"I can part of the way." She said. "I was going to go for a swim before heading home. I'd ask you if you wanted to join me but you really need to take care of the arrangements."

"Well then let's swim to my house." Cleo offered. "You think I should invite Lewis over so he can help explain what's going on to my Dad?"

"Might be handy." Laura answered as she led the way to the storage room for employees so they could pick up their stuff. Cleo took the time to send a quick message to Lewis letting him know to meet her at her place and that she'd be swimming there so he should hurry.

"I do have to admit that being public does make getting around easier. Not having to find a secluded place to get dry is really nice." She said.

"I know." Laura agreed. "But I do wish people, especially guys, would just not stare."

Cleo just rolled her eyes in answer to that. They all hated that. Though Rikki was the only one that actually did anything about it. They grabbed their stuff and headed out. The quickly found a place where they could get into the open water and dove in.

They swam quickly to the small dock behind Cleo's house. Cleo got out and, after a few tries, got herself dry. She waved goodbye to Laura promising to let her know how it all went and then watched as her friend swam off. She took a deep breath and headed inside.

"Cleo." Her Dad said surprised. "You got home fast."

"I decided to swim." She explained. "I also need to talk to you. It's something to do with mermaids."

"Okay." He said.

"I asked Lewis to come over. For some support." She twisted her hands nervously. "That's OK I hope."

Her Dad let out a sigh. "I guess so."

"Will he be staying for dinner?" Sam asked.

"I don't know." Cleo said honestly. "I didn't think to ask."

There was a knock at the door. Cleo hurried to answer it hoping it was Lewis. She wasn't disappointed.

"You got here pretty quick." She said as she kissed him.

"Enough of that now." Her Dad said with a scowl.

"Hello Cleo." He said with a smile. "Mr. Sertori."

"Lewis." Her Dad replied a bit stiffly.

"Lewis it's good to see you again." Sam said. "Come in. Come in. Don't hover by the door."

"Thank you." He said to the room. To Cleo he quickly asked, "So you ready?"

"No." She said. "But I don't think we have much choice."

"True." He replied.

"So, Lewis, will you be joining us for dinner tonight?" Sam asked.

He looked to Cleo. She took his hand and pulled him forward. "I guess that's a yes." He answered.

"Don't worry Cleo," Sam said. "We'll have that talk you want after dinner. Unless you don't want to wait."

"I'd rather not." She said. "It's important and I really want to get it over with."

"OK. Let's sit. Dinner will keep and Kim's over at a friends so it's just us tonight." Sam said taking the lead.

"Lewis if you wouldn't mind giving the back ground like you did for us yesterday?" Cleo asked him as they all found a seat. "I think that would be the best place to start."

Lewis agreed and started in. He kept the explanation simple. He covered quickly how the full moon could have different effects on the girls based on different things. He gave examples using the full alignment and the full eclipse.

"Now this Sunday there is a partial eclipse and that works a bit differently." He said at the end. "It will allow them to transfer their mermaid nature to someone else for a week."

"And I've chosen to take this chance and see if this is really the life I want to have." She finished. "I've also chosen to have Lewis be the one I transfer them too."

Her Dad and Sam sat stunned for a moment. Cleo let them have a moment to let it all sink in. Finally they seemed to come to a decision.

"Well this is surprising." Her Dad said. "You sure about this."

"No. But that's why I'm doing this." Cleo said. "So I can be sure."

"I think what your Dad meant was: Are you sure doing this thing is a good idea." Sam corrected.

"Oh." Cleo said. "Yes. I am. I have to know for sure if this is what I'm supposed to be."

"And living with out it for a short while is a way to test." Sam said. "I get it."

"There is something else." Cleo said.

"There's more?" Her Dad asked.

"Only that we agreed that during this time I'd have to keep an eye on Lewis as much as possible. To keep him out of the trouble he's bound to get into." Cleo explained.

"On account of me not being used to it all like she is." Lewis finished for her.

"So he's going to stay here?" Her Dad said starting to look mad.

"Well I figured I could sleep on the couch down here, but yes." Lewis said quickly.

"Oh." Her Dad said immediately calming down. "I guess that's not too bad."

"We know you are going to have some rules for while he stays here." Cleo said. "I was hoping you could take the next few days to think them over and let us know on Saturday or Sunday."

"I supposed that's acceptable." Sam said. "We'll talk them over."

Don caught her look and nodded. "Right."

"But for now, let's have dinner." Sam said.

"Thanks guys. For being so understanding." Cleo said as they sat down and started to eat.

* * *

Rikki looked at her Dad in shock. "I just told you that when I do all this I'm going to have to stay over at Zane's place and all you can say is 'Okay'?"

"I'm not going to fight you on this." He said. "That's part of why your Mom left. I won't do the same with you. Even if it's something I don't like."

"I'd rather have you be honest with me." She told him.

"Okay then. Yes I don't like the idea, but I know you. More importantly I trust you. I know you can take care of yourself." He smiled. "It's why I never worry when you go out and about."

Rikki rocked back in surprise. She'd had no idea those were the reasons he'd given in so quickly.

"Thanks Dad." She said in a more normal tone as she sat down. "It's nice to know."

"It doesn't mean I'm not going to like you doing this. I just means that I know I don't have to worry about you. You can handle that boy if he tries anything. I know you can." He said with a grin. "You're my daughter after all."

They shared a good natured laugh. Rikki had always had trouble expressing her softer side. But she had to admit, if only to herself, that she did have one, and right now she really loved her Dad.

"You're right about that." She said instead once they calmed down a bit.

"So you gonna tell your friends?" He asked.

"Well Em already knows and I'm not sure how to tell the others. I haven't even told Zane yet." Rikki said.

"Well just call them all to that pool you're all so fond of." He said. "Isn't that what you girls usually do?"

Rikki smiled and quickly kissed her Dad on the forehead in a moment of impulse. "That's a great idea. Thanks Dad." She grabbed up her phone and headed for the door. "I'll probably be back late."

"No worries." He said with a laugh. "Have a good swim, sweetie."

Rikki gave him an over the shoulder wave as she sent off a message to everyone, even Ash and Emma, to meet at the moon pool. Once done she put her phone in her pocket and made a quick dash to the canals. She knew if Emma was anywhere near water she'd need the best head start she could get.

As soon as she got her tail she took off as fast as she could. She reveled in the speed and strength, she would miss them for the week, but she felt she needed to do this. She needed to know if her life was better because of being a mermaid or not.

She slowed a bit as she approached the underwater cave. She didn't feel like slamming into the rocks after all. She was pleased to see that she was the first one to arrive though. Emma did arrive less then half a minute later though so Rikki was glad she hadn't delayed in departing.

"You must have been really close to the water already." Rikki noted. "I only just got here."

"I know." Emma told her. "I could see the bubbles from your trail as I came here."

"But yet I still won." Rikki told her.

"I'd have caught you if it had been a longer swim and you know it." Emma shot back.

"Really! This again?" Cleo said as she surfaced. "Can't you two ever give it a rest?"

"No." They both said. Rikki watched as Cleo just rolled her eyes.

"Hey guys." Laura said as she and Bella arrived.

"What did we miss?" Bella added

"Just them arguing over who's the fastest swimmer again." Cleo told them.

"And that's me." Rikki said with a smug grin.

"Any time you want to go I'm ready to prove you wrong." Emma said.

"Well what's the reason for us to come here?" Bella asked before Rikki could take Emma up on the challenge.

"I called the guys here too." Rikki told them. "So we have a while to wait."

"Well then you've got time to settle this." Laura said. "First one to the main land and back."

"Please don't encourage them." Cleo said.

"You're on." Rikki said looking at Emma "Unless you're afraid of loosing."

"In your dreams." Emma said. "In three...

"Two..." Rikki counted.

"One!" Laura yelled startling them both in to suddenly taking off.

They dove down and took off out of the cave. They set a course for the closest point of the mainland from the island. Neither willing to give any ground to the other. They cut a fast loop as close to the shore as they could and headed back. They didn't even notice when they shot past the boats the guys were in, each more focused on winning then anything else.

Rikki slowly began to notice that a small gap was forming between her and Emma and she wasn't the one in the lead. She had to repress the urge to snarl as she tried to go faster. She managed to make up the gap and they reached the cave too close together to call.

"Well?" Laura asked as soon as they surfaced in the pool.

"It was a draw." Emma said as they both caught their breath. "Fair?"

"Yeah." Rikki allowed. "A draw."

"You two must have really been going all out to be taking such deep breaths." Bella commented.

"There and back on one breath might have had something to do with it too." Cleo said. "Why do you two always have to compete?"

"I've given up trying to figure that one out." Laura said. "You didn't happen to see the guys while you were racing."

"Uh..." Rikki said. "Were we supposed to be looking for them?"

"I was too focused on the race to notice." Emma said.

"Well we'll just have to wait for them." Rikki said. "Let's get out of the water and dry off."

One by one they did. Between Cleo, Bella, and Rikki herself they were able to get dry quickly. After that they had nothing to do but wait for the guys. It was a bit of a wait until they heard a splashing from the pool.

"Hey guys." Will said. "I figured this way would be faster."

"Hey Will." Bella beamed. "The others swimming in or walking."

"They chose to walk." He said.

Rikki couldn't hold back a groan. That meant about another ten minutes of waiting. It would only be made worse by Bella and Will going all sappy on them too.

"Mind helping me get dry here?" Will asked. "Or would you prefer me to splash all of you?"

"Bella. All yours." Laura said.

Bella caused the water to fall off Will with a twist of her hand, and Cleo was quick to sweep it back into the pool to prevent any accidents. Will and Bella went off to the side and started talking quietly with each other and Rikki found herself pacing with impatience.

"Why didn't they all just swim in?" She eventually burst out.

"Because most of us weren't in the mood to swim so late in the day." Ash said as the rest of the guys arrived.

"And here I though it was because only Will came dressed for it." Zane said looking like he'd just been biking. He quickly hurried over to Rikki and gave her a quick kiss. "Hey love. Sorry it took us so long."

"Biking Zane?" She asked.

"Well you did say that I could have the day to myself since you had to work." He replied.

"I did." Rikki said. "Yet I noticed that you came anyways."

"Well your message said to meet here. That usually means it's something important." He smiled. "At least that's the assumption I'm going to work with."

Rikki smiled inwardly. He had been enjoying some free time, but he hadn't hesitated to come the moment he'd gotten her request. The old Zane would have turned his phone completely off to avoid any interruptions to his fun. She was secretly pleased with how he'd changed.

"Ahem." Sounded from behind her. She flushed as she realized that she'd gotten lost in her own little world of just her and Zane.

"Well I guess you all want to know why I called you out here?" Rikki said.

"Uh, yeah." Emma said with a knowing smirk.

"Well everyone other than you and Ash." Rikki snapped back.

"You've decided to go through with it?" Cleo guessed.

"Yes. After thinking about it some more, and talking with my Dad, I realized I don't really doubt my choice to not give this up." Rikki explained.

"Then why?" Bella asked.

"There is something that I do need to know." She looked at Zane. "And the only way to figure it out is to go for a week with out being a mermaid."

Zane met her gaze and nodded. "If that's what you need to do, then I'm here for you. As promised."

Rikki let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Thanks Zane."

"Well I support you too." Laura said.

"Me too." From Bella.

"And me too." Sounded one by one from all the rest.

"Thanks guys." She turned to Zane again. "I'll be staying at your place. You can handle that I hope."

"Sure. I'll sleep on the couch. It's not a problem." He said.

Rikki blinked a few times? "Wait a second. Why? It's your place!"

"What kind of man would I be if I forced my girlfriend to sleep on the couch while I slept on a nice comfy bed?" He said with a grin. "I've done some bad stuff in my time but even at my worse I wouldn't do that."

Rikki wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. So for the moment she chose to let it go. She'd take that up how she felt about that with Zane one on one at a later time. For now she was just glad the others supported her.

"You know. I don't really have any doubts either." Emma suddenly said. "But I guess there is something I might want to know too."

Rikki, and everyone else too, turned to regard Emma. Most faces showed variations of surprise.

"Really?" Cleo said.

"Yeah." Emma answered. "But I still want to think on it a bit more. I'll make my choice tomorrow."

"And Byron agreed to help me figure out things for myself." Laura said. "I'll let you guys know for sure on Tuesday."

"If I don't say anything by Friday just assume the answer is no." Bella added. "If I don't know by then it will be too late to get things set up if I do choose to do it."

"Well I guess that gives us a time line to work with." Lewis noted. Everyone laughed.

"Who would have ever though the ten of us would one day be sitting here discussing this." Byron said. He was smiling so Rikki guessed he wasn't upset about it. "My life has been far more interesting since I came back home that's for sure."

"And I'm very glad you chose to." Laura said kissing him.

"Oh like you didn't protest up a storm for months on end." Rikki said.

"Like you didn't do the same." Laura counted.

"What's this?" Zane asked.

"Uh..." Rikki hedged. "Let's just forget I said anything."

Everyone broke out in laughter.

"Well unless anyone has something else to add," Emma said. "I should get home and get some sleep. I have to open for you tomorrow after all."

"So that means I won't have to hunt you down again if I need to talk?" Laura quipped.

"I swam with the dolphins in the show tonight." Cleo burst out. Rikki didn't miss Emma turning to her and mouthing a thank you. She'd corner Emma about that later.

"Yeah. She was amazing." Laura said letting Cleo's change of topic stand. Even Bella had a strange look. What did they all know that she didn't. Then she noted that Lewis and Zane seemed just as confused as she did.

"How did that go?" She asked Cleo instead.

"Better then I expected. I had so much fun I forgot that the crowd was even there." Cleo answered.

"You'll have to tell me all about it." Emma gushed. "But tomorrow. I really do need to get home. Night all."

One by one the girls jumped into pool and swam off. Will did too. Lewis, Ash, and Byron all headed out of the cave on foot. Soon only Rikki and Zane were left.

Rikki smiled and looked at him. "I guess I should go now too."

"Your Dad is OK with all this?" He asked.

"He knows that I can take care of myself if you try anything funny." Rikki told him. "And I know you won't be that foolish."

He held up his hands. "Fair enough." He laughed. "Besides if there was anything left of me after you got done he'd make sure to finish me."

"Good night, Zane." She told him.

"Good night, Rikki." He said as she jumped into the pool. She had a pleasant swim home.


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Note:

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this. At the start of May the economy finally caught up with where I worked and they had to start letting people go. I was one of them. At first I thought I'd have plenty of time to devote to writing. That optimism lasted all of a week. After that I found I lacked to motivation to do pretty much anything and as a result you have all had to wait a long time for me to post anything new.

I've now started to get motivated again. I've even started a new project that is a unique creation that I hope to one day get published. However I will no longer keep you waiting for new chapters.

Once again so sorry for the wait.

Also thanks goes out to Chinaluv for submitting suggestions for the Laura and Byron debate. I still need more so please send them in.

Chapter 3:

Countdown: Wednesday

Emma was her usual energetic self as she got things set up for opening. She had her checklist and was making steady progress through it. She was currently bringing fresh fruit out of the walk in for use. She still had to get the tills ready and the tables set up but she wasn't worried. Everything was on schedule.

The work was so routine to her that she could let her mind think over things while she worked. And so she considered the issue that had been on her mind since Monday. Should she do the trade or not. She had come to realize that her doubts about being a mermaid were not due to a lack of enjoyment in it or a dislike of the restrictions it placed on her life. Her doubts were about something far more personal. Her drive to compete at swimming.

She missed it. A lot. But the question she kept coming back to was how much did she miss it. It might be less of an issue for her if more of her sisters than just Rikki wanted to race her. But the truth was they rarely were. She didn't push them into it but she knew competing was a key part of her and she didn't get much chance to anymore.

She'd just finished getting the last table set up when she realized that she was no closer to an answer now then when she had begun. Well she just had to hope that something would come to her during the day that might help her come to an answer. But that would have to wait. The morning shift would be arriving in less then ten minutes and she still had to get the tills ready for the day.

* * *

I had set my coffee pot for a seven o'clock wake up time. I wanted to get to work between eight and nine today so I could finish early and spend some time thinking about reasons why I shouldn't do the switch. So far I had only come up with one. If I got caught out it would make a huge mess of things. Or if he did. Either way I had assumed that I'd have figured out more reasons by now.

"You're up early." Bella said as I walked zombie-like out to the living area.

"Want to get work done with early today." I mumbled.

"Don't you have a set start time?" She asked me confused.

"Only on some days. Most of the time I can adjust as I see the need to get done what I need to." I explained. "And Laurie has the late shift today so I though I'd take care of the morning stuff so he can focus on more important things once he starts."

"So you almost get to make your own hours." She summed up. "Not bad."

"Only some days." I put my head down on the table. "Ugh... I hate mornings."

"How much coffee have you had?" Bella asked.

"Just the one cup you allow." I replied. "Can we renegotiate?"

"Depends on what you ask for." She countered.

"More coffee on the agreement that I drink it slowly so it has time to set in before I over do it." I offered. "I'm sorry but one cup just isn't enough, but I have learned that giving it more time to set in does make me want to drink less."

Bella thought that over for a bit. "Okay. But even so no more then three before noon, and two in the afternoon. You can have them all at once or spread them out but that should be enough for anyone."

"Nine total for the day." I countered.

"Six."

"Eight!"

"Seven. Final offer." Bella caught my eye. "Or you stick to the current set up. Your choice."

"Okay. Seven it is." I agreed. I didn't mind. That was three more cups then she was letting me have right now, but I wouldn't be on a time frame between each one now.

"Same size cups as now though and you stick to the small size if you get coffee when you are out and about. That part hasn't changed." She added.

"Didn't think it would have." I said.

"Do you have time for breakfast before you go?" She asked.

"I was thinking of getting something on the way to work." I said a bit lamely.

"That's what I thought." She said as she put a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of me. "This is better for you then fast food and you know it.

"Not like we have to worry about gaining weight with our lifestyle." I said but I dug in all the same. Bella was a good cook and I wasn't going to turn down home cooked food.

"While that is true, Emma has a bit of a point about eating good food. I just don't go to the extremes she does." Bella said as she joined me with a plate of her own. "I also think you should drink your coffee while you eat so you get a mix of food energy to balance the caffeine but with you I'll go one step at a time."

I laughed. "Don't worry. I actually think you do have a point there. I just usually need the first cup to allow me to even get standing."

"So have you given any more though to if you are going to do the trade or not?" She asked changing the subject.

"Some. But I'm still just so confused about it all. I still need more time." I answered. "How about you?"

"The same." She said with a sigh. "I kind of wish I hadn't been so pushy on Monday and forced you to talk. I wouldn't be so confused now."

"I know." I finished eating. "But I have to head out now. We can talk more later if you want to. Thanks for breakfast."

"Okay. I'll probably be at Will's today. He's been helping me figure this out too." She said following me to the door.

I just nodded, grabbed my stuff, and hurried off.

* * *

Bella closed the door behind her roommate and went to clean up the breakfast mess. As usual she had a few mishaps at the sink, but she was used to that by now. And it gave her a chance to practice using her powers to get dry. She was pleased that she was getting better at it.

Once she was finished she headed out. She was eager to see Will and she really needed to talk to him more about this whole situation. She'd only gone about three blocks when she noticed someone was trying to snap pictures of her.

"Ugh. This is ridiculous." She said through clenched teeth as she turned and dashed for the canal. She wondered once again how Laura had managed to handle it so well on her own. Once she was in the water and had her tail she took off towards Will's place.

Once she arrived she surfaced and took a look around. She didn't immediately see anyone with a camera near by.

"I'm getting over paranoid." She said to herself as she swam closer to the boat house.

"With a bit of struggle she pulled herself clear of the water and got dry. Then she walked around and politely knocked on the door.

"Come on in, Bella." She heard Will call out. He sounded pleased.

"How did you know it was me?" She asked as she came inside.

"You not only knocked, but did it softly enough that you wouldn't startle me, yet loud enough to be heard." He explained.

"Ah."

"So what brings you out here so early?" He asked with a smile.

"I can't come visit?" She asked with mock harshness.

"Oh. I'm always glad to see you," he gave a polite chuckle. "But while I'm used to early mornings from all my training, you tend to like to sleep in some."

"Good answer." She told him with a kiss. "I came to talk."

"About?" He saw her expression. "Ah. That."

"Yes. That." She said. "But can we go somewhere more isolated? I had to dodge some idiot with a camera once today already."

He let out and annoyed sigh. He clearly didn't like that someone was trying to take pictures of her. "The pool?"

"Sure. Should I meet you there?"

"Or you could join me in riding over in the boat." He leaned in and kissed her. "Even if it goes so slow that you'd be bored it would give us more time together."

"Okay. I'll give it a try." She followed him out.

* * *

"Hey, Cleo." Emma called out to her from behind the counter as Cleo entered the cafe. "Take a seat and I'll be right with you."

"Morning, Em." She said with a wave as she took a seat.

Cleo watched as Emma carefully took an order to another table, took another tables order, and quickly wiped down another table before coming over to her.

"What can I get you?" Emma asked her.

"You have a break coming soon?" Cleo asked hesitantly.

"I think I'm due for one. Did you want to talk about something?" Emma answered.

"Not really." Cleo hedged. "I just wanted to see if you'd had any more thoughts."

"What time to do you need to be at work?" Emma asked instead.

"Not till the afternoon." Cleo answered her.

"Okay. Ash will be here in about half an hour. Once I get things turned over to him I can take my lunch break and we can talk. If you can wait that long." Emma looked hopeful.

"Sure. Can you get me my favorite flavor of smoothie then?" Cleo smiled as she set in to wait.

"Sure can." Emma said as she headed over to the counter to place the order with one of the other staff.

However one of those hiccups that seemed to follow the girls around happened. Just as Emma had leaned over the counter to hand the order slip the girl behind the counter had turned with a freshly made tray of drinks and the two bumped into each other. The drinks spilled and Emma jerked back.

Cleo half rose from her seat as she watched it all happen and hesitated as she wasn't sure how she could help.

"Oh. My. God." The girl behind the counter said. "I'm so sorry Emma. Let me get a towel and I'll get this cleaned up."

"That's not going to be the big problem, Rachel." Emma told her as she looked at her arms now covered with spilled drinks. "Cleo can you get this off me before..."

Cleo leaped up, but too late. Emma hadn't bothered to hide so everyone saw as she changed. Cleo darted over and tried to catch her friend.

"Cleo don't!" Emma said as she grabbed the counter and ended up half spun around. "You'll just end up down here with me."

"Oh right." Cleo said stopping dead. "Um. Why didn't you run?"

"'Cause I didn't feel like it." Emma said as she slowly lowered herself to the floor. "Now that we don't have to anymore. Can you get this stuff off me please?"

"Oh right." Cleo focused for a moment and got the juice off Emma. "Good thing it wasn't to crowded in here right now."

"Crowded enough." Emma pointed to the other customers who'd all been quick to pull out their phones and snap pictures.

"Oh, Emma." Rachel said. "I'm so, so, so sorry."

"It's okay. It's not like we aren't used to this by now. Just try and be a bit more careful." Emma told her. "You get this cleaned up and I'll make the orders."

"Okay." Rachel quickly found some towels and cleaning solution and got to work.

"You're taking this rather calmly." Cleo noted.

"Well I have to say it's a lot easier when I don't have to suddenly just dash off with no explanation," Emma said. "Still not fun though."

"Does that happen often?" Cleo asked.

"At least once a day to someone." Emma said. "It's just worse when that someone happens to be Rikki or myself. Obviously."

"Obviously." Cleo agreed. "So your not upset that I took so long to help?"

"No." Emma said as she carefully poured the new drinks. "It was nice that you were here to help me get dry quickly though." Emma put the drinks on a tray and headed around the counter to deliver them. "Go take a seat and try to just relax for now."

"Okay." Cleo said and turned back towards the table she'd chosen, and crashed into Rachel who'd just finished cleaning up the spill. The water bucket splashed all over her.

"Oh no." Rachel said backing away slowly. "I'm so sorry."

Cleo just went and took her seat as she waited for the inevitable.

"Oh... Not again." Emma sounded really annoyed. "Rachel why don't you go and take a break."

"But you'll be here alone." Rachel protested.

"I'll manage." Emma stated flatly.

"This is just not a good day for us." Cleo said as she changed. She slumped down in her seat as now pictures were being taken of her. She sighed in resignation and started to dry herself.

Emma hurried over. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah. I guess so." Cleo tried to put on a brave face, but she really didn't like this. She knew it had been the right choice to do this and not leave Laura alone in being known, but none of them would ever be truly comfortable being a spectacle.

"If your sure." Emma said. "Did you want to wait for me in the office?"

"I shouldn't." Cleo said. "I know Rikki and Zane are rather lenient about that, but I don't want to take advantage."

"Well if you change your mind." Emma left it open.

"Thanks." Cleo just sipped her drink.

"Didn't you do a show last night?" Emma asked suddenly. "You seamed comfortable with that."

"But that was work, and the dolphins were the main show. I was just a trainer." Cleo rationalized.

Emma just sighed as she went back to taking orders, letting the matter drop for now. Cleo wasn't fooled though. She'd been Emma's friend for a long time now. She knew Emma would bring it back up later, when they were alone, and Emma wasn't working. But she was glad for the reprieve, temporary though it might be.

It was only a few minutes later when Ash walked in. He was early but then both he and Emma usually were for a shift.

"Emma?" He said confused. "Where is everyone else."

"On break." She answered. "I'll explain later."

"Spill?" He guessed.

Emma nodded and then sent a look over a Cleo. "More than one in quick succession."

He followed her gaze. "Ah. I see." He waved politely. "Morning Cleo."

"Morning Ash." She replied in kind. "How are you today?"

"Not too bad." He answered. "Dropping by to visit with Em?"

"Yeah. I am." Cleo said.

"Well let me get set up and I'll let you two ladies have some time." He gave Cleo a friendly smile.

Emma reached over the counter and grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him over and kissed him. "You forgot to say hello." She told him once they broke.

"My apologies. Love." He didn't look upset though. "If this is how you remind me I might just have to forget more often."

"Don't you dare." Emma scolded him softly.

Some of the customers cheered. Cleo just rolled her eyes.

"Oh you and Lewis are just as bad sometimes." Emma scolded her.

"Emma!" Cleo felt herself blushing.

"Well you are." Emma told her.

"Well I think I should go get ready for the day." Ash said quickly and darted towards the break room.

Emma rolled her eyes as she watched him go. Then she shrugged and went back to work. Cleo was left with nothing else but to wait.

In due time the other workers got back from break and Ash got started for the day. Cleo watched as they got things changed over and Emma finally was able to get her lunch. She got something to eat and waved for Cleo to follow her outside. Cleo was a bit confused about the change in location but went along.

"So why outside?" She asked as she followed her friend.

"Less ears." Emma answered.

Cleo had to admit she had a point. Most of the customers were staying inside today. So being out on the deck was a better choice.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Emma asked once they got settled.

"How are you coming along on decision making?" Cleo asked. "I'm curious."

Emma picked at her lunch for a while, clearly thinking. Cleo began to worry she wouldn't answer when Emma finally looked up.

"Been going over that all morning actually." Her friend admitted. "And I still don't know."

"Oh. Anything I can do to help you sort it out?" Cleo asked.

"Why are you doing it? What doubts do you have?" Emma asked suddenly.

"I haven't really considered it like that." Cleo said. "I just was never sure about all this from the start. It did kind of grow on me, but I don't know if that's just because I had no choice or I really started to like it."

"Ah. I see. So you take a week off and see if you miss it or not." Emma summed up.

"I guess so. What about you?" Cleo asked in return.

"I love it, but I miss racing. A lot." Emma said. "And let's face it. The only one that will race me is Rikki. I need more. I spent most of my life in the water, competing."

"And then you had to give it up because of this." Cleo summed up. "I wonder what Rikki's reason is?"

"You should know that Rikki won't tell us till after, if she does at all." Emma said.

"Yeah. I know." Cleo agreed with a laugh. "So you want to go back to the swim team then?"

"Yes. No. I don't know. I guess that's why I'm so lost on this." Emma said.

"I guess that's fair." Cleo said. "Not that we'll be able to let ourselves be seen in the water until it's over."

"I know. That's the other reason I can't decide." Emma said with a sigh. "What I want to find out from all this is the one thing I can't really indulge in." She suddenly started laughing.

Cleo couldn't help but stare at her. Emma was laughing like she was enjoying some sort of privet joke. And she wasn't stopping.

"Emma what's so funny?" Cleo finally asked her.

"All this time we've spent trying to keep people from knowing and now we'll have to keep them from finding out we loaned it all out for a week." Emma said between laughs.

Cleo couldn't help it. When put that way the irony of it all was just too much. She started laughing too. They were still laughing when Ash came outside to remind Emma that she needed to come back to work.

* * *

Bella didn't make it even out of the small inlet near the boat house before the water spray caused her to change. She'd expected as much and didn't worry about it. Instead she just enjoyed her time in Will's company. They didn't end up talking on the boat trip to Mako, but the silence wasn't awkward. It was pleasant in its own way.

Once they got to Mako they notice Zane's craft was anchored just off the island near the underwater entrance to the pool. Will guided his craft up near it and tossed his anchor over.

"Huh. Wonder what he's doing out here." He said simply.

"Well, only one way to find out." Bella said with a shrug.

"Give me a moment to get ready here and I'll join you." Will grabbed his diving mask and mono-fin.

Bella nodded with a smile and slipped over the side of the boat into the water. She felt much better once she was in the water. A splash only a few moments later alerted her to Will having joined her. She waited for him to get his bearings before swimming over to him.

He pointed over to the cave then wrapped his arms around her stomach and held on. It was the same hold he'd used during his training and Bella quickly caught on that he wanted her to swim them quickly to the cave. What he did next hadn't been part of his training and it completely caught her by surprise. He'd kissed the back of her neck and she was surprised to find just how much she enjoyed it.

She gave herself a mental shake and tried to focus on the task at hand. She was able to get moving but she couldn't shake other ideas out of her head. Ideas they didn't have time for right now. This was only made more difficult when she felt him move with her. Kicking his feet in his fin in time with her swimming. Working with her as if they were one.

She tried her best to ignore it all as they came though the underwater entrance to the pool. They were half way down the small cave when she stopped. She felt Will lift his head to look for what ever she'd seen that caused her to stop.

It was one of the others. They could only see the tip of a tail so who ever it was wasn't fully in the water at the moment. They exchanged a look and a pair of shrugs and then continued on forward. They surfaced in the pool just in time to catch the end of a conversation between Rikki and a semi-comatose Zane.

"... how Will can do this. We've only been here an hour and I'm beat." Zane was just finishing.

"How I do what?" Will asked.

They both startled. Rikki half hopped and fell back into the poll. Zane just rolled his head towards them.

"Oh hey, Will. Bella." He greeted. "What brings you out here today?"

Rikki got her head back above the water and scowled at them for a moment in annoyance. Soon though her joy at seeing her good friends obviously won out and she smiled.

"Hi Rikki. Hi Zane." Bella replied. "We just thought we'd come out here and talk."

"Sorry. My suggestion." Will said. "I was thinking this would be a good place to talk with out us having to dodge every moron with a camera phone."

Rikki rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it. I can't even get out my front door with out someone trying to get a picture of me. Urgh!"

The water started to warm as Rikki absently clenched her fists and brought them down to punch the water.

"Whoa! Rikki. Rikki!" Bella called out to her. "Calm down or you'll boil us all like lobsters."

Rikki realized what was happening and unclenched her hands. "Sorry. I don't usually loose control like that anymore."

"Yeah. Well given the circumstances I think it's been a while since anything has gotten under your skin this badly." Zane said to her while Will climbed out of the pool. "Not that you don't have good reason these days."

Rikki took a few deep breaths and calmed herself. "No reason for me to get angry at my friends, though."

"Zane's right though." Bella told her swimming to the edge of the pool. "You do have every right to get mad at them. How did Laura put up with it?"

"No idea." Rikki said coming up next to her. "We could ask her sometime."

Everyone laughed at that.

"So we came to talk." Bella said. "Why are you and Zane here?"

"Working on my breath holding and depth tolerance." Zane said. "I'm going to need it for next week and I haven't kept up with my swimming after high school as well as I should have."

"I'm helping him." Rikki said.

"Some advice if you willing to listen." Will said. Zane and Rikki nodded. "Training is good, to a point. Overdoing it is just as bad as not doing it at all. So don't push yourself too hard."

"That's reasonable." Zane said. "But I should be able to do a normal swim workout. I'm not even up to that much." He took a few breaths and finally sat up. "I've really let myself go."

"You're not doing that badly." Rikki told him.

"I used to be able to do hour and a half long swim workouts back in school and not be half as tired as I feel now." He said. "You guys spend hours a day in the water and come out glowing with energy."

"Never had it described quite like that." Bella said and looked at Rikki to see if she agreed. Rikki, however, looked completely zoned out and was grinning at Zane in an odd way. "Rikki. Rikki?" Bella poked her in the arm. "You with us?"

"I'm sorry. What?" Rikki said snapping out of it.

Bella just rolled her eyes, covered her face with her hand, and sighed.

"What?" Rikki asked again.

"Nothing." Bella said.

"Will, what does she mean?" Rikki turned to ask him.

Both girls noticed that he was no longer in the cave. Neither was Zane.

"Why do they always slip away like that?" Rikki demanded.

"Will!" Bella yelled. "Get back here!"

Will stuck his head back in the cave. "Done with the girl talk?"

"What?" Bella and Rikki said together, both confused.

"Oh. Uh... we just though you would like some privacy to talk with each other. That's all." He explained.

Bella felt her anger drain away. His intentions were good even if he read the situation wrong. "No. We didn't need to be alone. You can come back in here."

Will looked back and made a 'come on' motion with his head. He and Zane came back into the part of the cave with the pool.

"Actually it's kinda good Rikki and Zane are here. They can help us talk this out." Bella said.

"Talk what out?" Zane asked.

"Sunday." Bella said simply.

"Oh that." Zane said. "What did you want help with?"

"When did you start being so helpful?" Will asked him.

"About the time I got disowned and realized that my friends are all I have." He said with a shrug. "So how can we help?"

Zane walked over to the edge of the pool, took a seat, and put his feet in the water. Rikki just stared at him for a few moments while he did this then suddenly leaped out of the water and tackled him. Zane let out a startled 'mumph' sound as she kissed him.

"Rikki?" Bella said stunned as she watched Zane recover from his surprise and start to kiss her back.

"I wonder if she's trying to see how long he can hold his breath." Will said. "They were practicing that. Maybe this is how?"

The two in question broke apart in embarrassed laughter. "No this is not how I was teaching him." Rikki explained.

"Not that I'd have complained if it was." Zane added.

"Well can we get back on topic?" Bella asked.

"Sure." Rikki said. "So what do you have so far."

"Well I don't know if I should." Bella explained to them. "I mean I love this. Being a mermaid. I've been one for a very long time. I don't want to give it up."

"But?" Zane prompted.

"I don't remember what it was like to just be a normal girl." She said. "Do you think it's worth it to find out? I mean it's only a week. That's not a long time if you really think about it."

"Bella's just worried she'll go crazy before the week is up." Will added. "Personally I think anyone that can keep this a secret as long as she did and not go crazy from that can handle just about anything."

"You are biased." Bella told him. Rikki and Zane chuckled.

"Doesn't mean I'm wrong though." Will said with a grin.

"Well I agree with Will." Rikki said. "You won't got nuts in just one week."

"Maybe. Maybe not." Bella hedged. "Still is it worth it."

"How badly do you need to know?" Zane asked. "I think that's the question you should be asking."

"Seriously where did the old Zane go and how much do you want to keep him gone?" Bella said.

"Wow. I must have been way worse then I ever though if you all are still this much in shock." Zane groaned.

"That's why I'm doing this." Rikki said. "My life was rather lonely before this happened. I didn't have any friends. I kept people at a distance by being deliberately rude. And I doubt I'd have ever fallen in love."

"You can still be rude you know." Bella told her.

"No she's not. She just speaks her mind and tells it like it is." Zane corrected. "Something I need to hear to keep me straight some days. It's not rude, brutally honest sometimes, but hardly rude... mumph!"

Rikki tackled him again.

"Can we keep on topic here?" Will asked.

"Sure." Rikki said. "We can do that."

"So as you were saying?" Bella prompted her to continue.

"So as I was saying, I want to do this to just see if people will welcome me for myself. I'm worried that the only reason everyone likes me is because of what I am and not who." Rikki finished.

"Well I think we'd have liked you if we'd had a chance to get to know you. That might be the only thing that made a difference." Bella said.

"I get what you are saying, and this probably makes no logical sense, but I have to see for myself." Rikki told them.

"Hmmm..." Bella mused thoughtfully. "That's an interesting way of looking at it. Have to see for yourself." She finished softly.

"Do you think that helps any?" Will asked.

"It helps a lot. Actually." Bella turned to Rikki. "Thanks for the help. That gives me something to think about."

"Well I need to head out." Zane said with a look at this watch.

"So soon?" Rikki asked him.

"Yeah. So soon?'" Bella echoed her.

"Yeah." Zane said. "Ash should be on shift soon. Once he is Emma will probably take her lunch. If I leave now I can get back shortly after she's done and since they will both be there I can show them how to do the office paperwork." Everyone looked at him stunned. "Well for next week and all. I don't want to do this spread over several days when I can just get it all done today."

Zane eased his way into the pool. "Care to join me, Rikki? You're better at parts of it then I am. I wouldn't mind the help."

"Uh... S-sure." Rikki stuttered. Bella didn't blame her. Even she was having trouble comprehending Zane being this responsible.

Zane took a few deep breaths then dove under and swam out of the pool. Rikki followed shortly after him. Leaving Bella alone with Will in the pool.

"So what now?" Will asked her. "Still need to talk some more?"

"Nah. I think Rikki gave me the answer I needed." Bella said choosing for the moment to not think about how much Zane had changed. "I just need to think it over for a bit."

"Well. We're here at Mako. Did you want to go sightseeing?" He asked.

"Actually I was thinking we could go looking for some new shells." She said.

"I think that would be perfect." He agreed.

* * *

I swam to work. It was rapidly becoming the norm. I had fun, avoided the crowds, and it took less time then walking or even driving. Not that I was licensed to do so here yet. It was on my to do list.

I entered by the usual route. I stayed near the bottom of the pools to lessen anyone seeing me and headed to the back pools. It only took me a moment to get there. Ronnie greeted me immediately. I said hello but I didn't stick around to play just now.

Once out and dry I headed to the employee areas and got clocked in and started for the day. It was only eight so I made the rounds and fed all the dolphins and other marine life we kept. Then I let Ronnie out into the public areas so he could show off and get some exercise before the shows today. He needed to burn off some of his playful energy in my opinion.

Then I headed to the lab area. We needed to do some basic blood panels on several of the animals, and while I was no vet, I did know how to run the machines. I was surprised to find someone else was already there. Someone I knew well and was please to see.

"Hey, Linda. How are you?" I couldn't help but smile as I came over to her.

She was looking though a microscope and didn't look up as I walked over. "Hi Laura. I'm not in your way am I?"

"Nope. I'm just here to see if I can't get some of the routine stuff done so the others don't have to." I explained. "I figure if I can get the tests done and the results printed out they can do the more important stuff."

"You mean the routine blood tests so the vets can make sure all the marine life is healthy?" She asked while making a not on a sheet.

"Something like that." Curious I leaned over to look at what she was working on, only to have her snatch it away quickly.

"Before you read my notes, there's something I want you to look at." She said holding the clipboard so I couldn't see it.

"Okay. Now I'm really curious. What do you need me to look at?"

In answer she pointed to the microscope. I took a look. I could see cells. But I didn't know what kind. As I watched some of the cells were attacked by others.

"So what do you see?" Linda asked me.

"Not really my area but I'm guessing a virus infecting something." I ventured.

"Now watch." I looked as she dropped some water on the slide. "Watch what happens now."

As I watched the attacked cells shifted and the virus cells moved away and died off. "What? What just happened?"

"What do you think the main sample was from?" She asked me.

"One of us." That I was sure of. "And the rest?"

"A common cold virus." She said. "But that's how all viruses react to you five. Bacteria as well."

"Okay. You lost me." I was thoroughly confused.

Linda gave me a half grin and mussed my hair. "You don't get it do you?" She chuckled. "Every time you change between your mermaid form and your human form any virus or bacteria is counter acted."

"So we are immune?" I guessed.

"In a way." She took a seat and gestured for me to sit as well. "All diseases are parasites in some way. Medically they are classified in five ways. Viral, bacterial, fungal, toxins, and parasites."

"Why is one of them specifically called that?" I asked.

"Because the of the way they act. They don't fit into the other categories." She said. "Anyways viruses and bacterium can't get a foot hold on you five. Yet you still make antibodies to fight them. It's why you don't get sick."

"Well that's kinda cool." I said. "Has someone been doing tests on that?"

"Several doctors actually. But they would love fresher blood samples to work with." She gave me a level look, "That, however, is entirely up to you if you want to or not."

"I'll think about it." I told her. "So you said there are three other types. They all react the same."

"No. Fungi and parasite infections react normally on you, but it's the last one you have to worry about the most." She seemed upset.

"Toxins. That's the last one right." I said. "That's things like pollutants and poisons."

"Yes. You five react worse to those. In some cases as much as twice as badly as anyone else would, if not more so. Some toxins that would only have a human or animal be sick and nauseous for a week in a very small dose might be fatal to you." I could tell she wanted me to take this warning seriously. Trust me I did.

"That's good to know." I said. "So we can't get a cold or an infection, but we're very easy to poison. That's something I hope doesn't get out to anyone that really hates us."

"Yeah. If you could let the others know..." She left it hanging.

"Yeah. I will." I would too as soon as I saw them next. "That's kinda important."

"So how has your week been so far?" She asked me.

"Let's go to the break room and relax while we talk. It's time for my break anyways." I stood and held the door open.

"Lead on." She told me and fell into step with me.

Once there we helped ourselves to some soda's from a vending machine and took seats. Once comfortable I started up.

"So Lewis did some research and this Sunday is going to be interesting." I told her.

"Right the partial eclipse." She nodded. "I take it you guys are going to avoid the pool."

"Nah. Some of us are going to be there. I haven't decided yet." I said and took a drink.

She rolled her eyes. "I can't believe I missed that for years." We shared a laugh. "But why? If I might ask. It's only going to last half a night if it works the same as a full eclipse."

"I doesn't." I told her as I considered if I should go on. I decided I would and told her. "It let's us trade being a mermaid with someone that isn't as long as we are touching them."

I was suddenly covered in sprayed soda as she sputtered and choked. I was a bit startled but I guessed her reaction should have been expected. Naturally I ended up on the floor ten seconds later while she was recovered her breath.

"WHAT?" She finally spat out once she could talk again. I repeated what I'd said. "I was afraid you'd said that."

"What's wrong?" I asked. "It's only for a week. You kinda distracted me before I could finish that part."

"Only a week?" Suddenly she seemed thoughtful. "Hmmmm... I wonder. I'd need DNA samples to be sure."

"What are you thinking about?" I asked as I started to dry myself off.

"I suggest you do it." She said instead. "All of you. And make sure you pick men. If I'm right it's very important that you do."

"What are you going on about?" Once again I was completely confused.

"Just a suspicion. I'd need to get some swabs from whomever you trade with. If they'd let me. But I don't want to say anything in case I'm wrong." She said instead.

"You can talk to Lewis and Zane then. Cleo and Rikki are going for it. Emma's going to make up her mind today and I was going to make my choice tomorrow. Bella is the only one that's least sure." I said.

"I'd strongly recommend you convince her and you do it yourself. Emma as well." She said helping me back to my feet.

"Okay. I'll take that under advisement, but really, you won't tell me why." I sat back down and finished my soda.

"I'll need swabs from the five of you as well while you don't have your powers. And I'll need them from the men you choose both during and after." She told me as she took her seat again. "As for why. You should be able to figure that out on your own. You were my student."

I groaned. She was going to test me on this. Thinking on it I realized she had every right to. I was her student. She had every right to have high expectations of me. I resolved to give it a lot of thought when I wasn't busy with work. I also put it on my list of things to tell the others later when we got together again.

"I'll think on it." I told her as I stood up. "But for now I have to get back to work. It was good to see you though. Drop by later and we can catch up more."

"I'll do that." She promised. "Have a good day."

* * *

Emma had only been back from her lunch break for ten minutes when Rikki and Zane walked in. They headed right over to her.

"Hey guys." Emma was confused. "Neither of you work today."

"We know." Zane said. "Could you have Ash meet us in the office, please."

"He's not in trouble, I hope." Emma said worried.

"Not at all." Rikki said. "We'll need to see you too after him. It's about next week."

Suddenly it clicked in her head. The paperwork. They needed to be trained on it. They were both here today, at more or less the same time too, so it would be a perfect time to get it done. "He's in the stock room. I'll let him know."

"Thanks." They said and headed to the office. Emma headed to the back room.

"Ash." She called out as she went back.

"What's up?" He grunted as he carefully lifted a full crate of milk.

"Rikki and Zane need to see you. It's about next week." She told him.

"Right." He said getting it immediately. "I'll have Jack finish this then."

"I'll tell him so you can get started. They'll need me once you are done. Same reason." She headed out to the front.

It took her a moment to find Jack. He was out on the patio area cleaning up after large group of customers.

"Hey, Emma. What's up?" He asked once he saw her.

"Once you are done here we need you to go to the back and get the milk stacked up. Ash got called into the office by the owners." She told him.

"No problem. I'll get right on it once I finish here, and wipe down the table. They managed to spill stuff everywhere." He held up a cup that had liquid coating the outside.

Emma snapped her mouth closed on her offer to do it for him. With a mess that bad it was out of the question for her. At least now the staff knew stuff like this was a limit on her. She couldn't even use the wet cleaning cloths. She made up for it by doing a larger share of the other work. She didn't want to be unfair to everyone else.

Emma headed in and started taking orders. It took a little over an hour for them to get done training Ash. During that time Emma started to notice a few familiar faces. She just couldn't quite place them. And she was still trying to figure out where she'd seen them all before when she was called into the office for her turn at training.

An little over an hour later she had new respect for Rikki and Zane. If this was what they had to do every day she should really cut them some more slack. She'd barely gotten back on the floor when she was corned by over a dozen familiar looking girls.

"Emma! It is you." One of them said.

"Is it true?" Another asked.

"Are you really a, well, you know?" From a third.

"If it's true then would that be why you had to quit the team?" From yet another.

"Team?" Emma managed to ask.

"The swim team." A fifth girl said. "Don't tell me you forgot us."

It finally clicked. The reason why they all looked familiar, and the questions. These were the girls she was on the swim team with back in high school. She hadn't seen them in almost three years.

"I'm so sorry. I did forget a bit." Emma said. "But only because it's been so long. How are you all?"

"We're good." Several of them answered together.

"But you didn't answer. Is it true about, you know what?" Was asked again.

"I don't know what you are asking, but I can't talk right now. I'm working." Emma said. "If you want to meet after work, and be more specific, then I'll talk with you."

"Fair enough." The first girl to speak said again. "We're having a beach party this afternoon. You're welcome to come. It's out at Mako. Bring some friends."

"Okay." Emma said. She knew it would be best to go and figure out what they wanted then to let them corner her again. "I'll be there. I'll see if I can convince a few of my friends to show. No promises on that though."

The girls seems satisfied with that and all went back to their seats.

"What was that about?" Ash asked her once the mob had dissipated.

"I honestly have no idea. They kept expecting me to know." Emma shrugged. "They never just out right said what ever they were asking."

"I heard them invite you to a party. You going?" He asked.

"Yeah. I might get some answers from them." She kissed him. "You should drop by once you get off work."

"Nah. I'll let you have some girl time." He grinned mischievously at her. "But I am hoping you would like to join me for dinner tonight afterward. My treat. And we'll go out too."

"Really?" Emma half smiled and bit her lip. "Where did you have in mind?"

"I was thinking your favorite restaurant." He took her hands. "So is that a yes?"

Of course it was. He didn't need to ask. She answered by kissing him.

"Is he your boyfriend?" She heard from one of the girls from the old swim team. "He going to join us at our party?"

"Yes." Emma felt her face heat up as she blushed. "Yes he is. And I did invite him."

"But I'm going to let you girls have some alone time to talk." He answered. "And I'll see you after."

"Definitely." Emma answered.

"Now. Back to work dear." He said in a mocking tone.

"Of course." Emma said back. "After all you are the one in charge right now."

"You two can flirt on your own time." Rikki said from behind her. Emma couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"Of course." Emma said. "I'll just go take some orders then." She hurried off.

"What time dose her shift end?" She heard asked behind her.

"Another hour." Emma called back. "What time is the party?"

"Starts at four." Was the answer she got back.

"Plenty of time. I'll see you all there then." And she turned to greet some new customers that walked in.

* * *

Cleo was about half way to work when she got fed up with being stared at and decided to swim the rest of the way to work. She didn't understand why everyone couldn't just get over it and leave her, and the others, alone.

Once she got through the outer gate she was greeted by Ronnie. He was his usual enthusiastic self and she was happy to see him too. She was a bit early due to having swam in, so she kept him company for a short bit. She did make sure to keep track of time so she wouldn't be late.

She entered the back area pools and gave Ronnie a silent promise to see him again later, a promise easy to keep as she was his trainer for the shows after all, and swam to the small dock. She saw she wasn't alone as soon as she surfaced. She looked up and saw her redheaded friend looking at her and apparently trying not to laugh. She just scowled back.

"I see you chose the same commute I did." Laura said with an amused tone.

"How did you know I was here?" Cleo said as she pulled herself out of the water.

"The crowd around Ronnie's tank was a good clue." Laura was smirking.

"Damn it." Cleo swore. She didn't mean to draw a crowd.

"So you going to swim at the show's tonight?" Laura asked.

"Might as well at this point." Cleo sighed. "Everyone knows I'm here and will be expecting me too."

"That's no reason to do it." Laura countered.

"What do you mean?" Cleo asked her as she focused to start getting dry.

"Don't do it because the idiots that make up the general public want to see it. Do it because you want to, because you want to swim with the dolphins, and because it's fun." Laura said offering a hand up as Cleo got the water off herself and was dry. "Who cares what they want or expect. We're not on display here you know."

"You're right." Cleo said cheered up. "I'll do a show or two, the one's I want to do, but I'm not going to do all of them. You are right that I'm not the one that is performing. So how has your morning been?"

"Interesting. I spent a good part of the morning with Linda." Cleo tripped over nothing and nearly fell from shock as Laura shared that news.

"She's not here is she?" Cleo demanded.

"Yeah. She is." Laura admitted. "She's back in the lab areas so you don't have to see her if you don't want to. I know you don't get along, even if I wish you would try, and she won't force the issue."

"Why is she here, anyways?" Cleo asked.

"She's doing some tests." Laura looked excited. "And the results are incredible."

"Do I want to know?" Cleo asked wary.

Laura explained what Denman had found out. She was very excited as she did. Cleo suddenly found herself wanting to do something she never though she would. She wanted to go see Denman and get the details from her directly.

"Where is she?" Cleo asked again once Laura was done.

"The testing labs. Why?"

Cleo didn't answer as she hurried off and got clocked in for work. She then hurried to the lab. She barely noticed that Laura had followed her the whole way, and looked completely baffled. Soon as she got there she pushed the door open and walked right up to her old nemesis.

Denman started and stared gap jawed at Cleo for a bit before finally finding her voice. "Cleo. This is a bit of a surprise. What can I do for you?"

"Laura told me something interesting that you had found out. I came to see it for myself." Cleo stated flat out. She was curious enough to deal with the Dr., but that didn't mean she had to like it.

"Of course." Denman stepped to the side. "Did you want to read the report or see the slides?"

"Both please." Cleo said. "You'll forgive me if I don't take you at your word."

"I wouldn't expect you to." Was the reply she got.

"Do you want me to stay or should I go?" Laura asked.

"Stay please." Cleo said. "I'd like a witness."

The last was said with a glare at Denman, who just sighed and took a seat near by.

"Cleo." Laura started only to be waved to silence by Denman.

Cleo realized that she was being harsh. Denman had done everything she could to try and make up for her mistakes. Cleo and the others had gone along before only because Laura had been right about the risk of getting caught in a situation they couldn't control. They had tolerated Denman for the similar reason. Laura had also been right about any other researcher being too risky.

She'd never considered that maybe Denman had honestly learned from her past. She had, like Rikki and Emma, been keeping her at a distance and not giving her a chance to prove she'd changed.

"I'm sorry." Cleo said. "That was rude. I know we didn't get off on the best of terms our first meeting. And I've been holding that against you, even when you've been trying to be helpful."

"It's okay. I deserve it." Denman said quickly.

"No you don't." Cleo said. "At least not anymore." She held out her hand. "I can't forgive you for what you did, but maybe I should give you a chance to start over."

Denman took her hand cautiously and they shook. "Thank you."

Cleo looked back at Laura who was grinning from ear to ear. "Last time we told you that grin looked like a cat you said something about feathers."

Laura burst out laughing.

"So can I see what you've found?" Cleo asked.

"Sure. I wish we had a fresher blood sample but the cold virus is fresh enough for this test to work." Denman said making some quick adjustments to the focus dials on the microscope.

"I'd offer but you told me last time you aren't trained to draw blood." Cleo said.

"If you really are willing we could just visit a doctors office and have them do it." Denman said. "We don't need to tell them anything more than we did last time."

"Voluntary participation in clinical trials." Cleo repeated from memory. "Sure. Just not for a while. I'm going to be busy for a bit."

"The moon." Denman said. "Laura told me. I think you all should. And I'd like to have you all do some cheek swabs during and after, you and the guys, if you'd be willing."

"Wait?" Cleo burst out. "We knew she'd fill you in but we though you'd be against it!"

"Have Laura tell you once she figures it out." Denman said with a smirk.

"I've been thinking about it all morning. I can't figured it out." Laura sounded annoyed about that. "But I will. Just give me time."

"I'll try and figure it out too." Cleo said. "Can I see now."

"Yup." Denman gestured to the eye piece. "Have a look."

Cleo looked and watched. She was suitably impressed.

"We have to tell the others." Cleo said once she'd seen and read everything about it. "They need to hear this."

"At least now I have you to back me up." Laura said.

"Oh no." Cleo spun around and pointed to Denman. "You should tell them. We'll back you up."

"But..." Denman started.

"I know. But like me they need to get over it. I'll talk to them." Cleo told her. "I doubt they'll forgive any more then I did, but they should move on."

"Alright." Denman said. "Just let me know when."

"I will." Cleo said.

"Uh. Cleo." Laura said. "Don't you have to be at a show in twenty minutes?"

Cleo realized that she was going to be late if she didn't go right now. Heck, Laurie was probably looking for her right now. "Oh shoot. I have to go. Laura can work out the details."

She ran out the door and didn't stop running until she'd gotten to the stadium.

* * *

Bryon knocked on the door of his parents house. He was hoping they were home. He'd forgotten to call before dropping by. He was glad when the door opened. That was short lived when he realized it was his older sister that answered the door though.

She set herself and leaned against the door frame to block his entrance. She was looking around as if expecting someone else.

"Lisa. What are you doing here?" He asked mildly annoyed.

"So where is she?" His sister asked ignoring his question.

He briefly considered playing dumb but one look at his sisters expression and he decided he'd rather live. "She's not here. I just came by to see if I could get gram's old ring."

"Ohh-ho-ho-ho no. Not a chance little bro." She told him.

"I think we should leave that up to Mom and Dad." He told her trying to find a way to slip past her.

"Oh you don't get it do you." She said overly sweetly. "You don't get to have that until we meet her. Why do you think Shelly and I flew out for a visit."

"Shelly's here too." He was not thrilled by that bit of news.

"Yup." She said with a Cheshire grin.

"Mom." He called out hoping to go over her head.

"Your sister has a valid point, dear." His mother said. "However you can let him in so we can talk about this like civilized people."

She reluctantly moved aside so he could get in the door and motioned for him to follow her into the family room. She called out for his other sister and their dad.

It took a few minutes for everyone to gather and get seated but he wished it had taken longer.

"So when do we get to meet her." Lisa said. "We're only here for a week so it better be soon."

"I plan to have her over to visit, soon. It's just been a bit hectic lately." He said. "And she's going to be very busy next week so that's out."

"This weekend then. Saturday is good." His younger sister, Shelly, suggested.

"Dad. Help me out here." He said to his father hoping to get some back up.

His dad just looked at the three women in the room, who all stared back, then turned to his son with a look that said 'Do I look stupid to you?'

"Right. Why did I bother to ask." Byron muttered under his breath.

"So, Saturday?" Shelly asked again.

"I'll talk to her." He offered and got up to go.

"Is your phone broken?" Lisa asked. "You can borrow mine if you need to."

He turned and glared at her. She just held out her phone with a smug smile. He showed her that he did, in fact, have his with him and headed out to the back yard to have some privacy while calling.

She picked up on the third ring. "Byron! Hi!"

He smiled at how excited she sounded. "Hey love."

"What's up? Everything's okay right?" She suddenly sounded worried.

"Yeah. Everything is fine. Why do you ask?" He was confused a bit.

"Well you just sound worried. That's all." He'd have to work on that. He didn't like getting her worried over nothing.

"I just went over to visit my parents for the afternoon and found out that both my sisters are in town." He started.

"That's not something to worry about." She interrupted him.

"They came into town specifically to see you." He finished with a sigh. "And I'm not being given a choice in the matter. They want me to invite you over for the day on Saturday."

"That's fine." She said. "I've been looking forward to meeting them since you told me about them on Sunday."

"It's just real short notice. That's all." He tried to convince her to delay.

"I know. But next week is going to be out. I have that day off, and we don't have anything else planned. So why not!" She sounded excited again.

Byron turned to face the house, not surprised that his sisters were both pressed up to the back door to keep him in sight. As if he would make a run for it. He knew better. He sighed and gave them a nod.

Lisa opened the door. "Don't forget to tell her about the pool!"

Right. Like he could forget with it only two meters away from him. "I'm supposed to make sure to tell you about the pool."

"They do know right?" She asked. She sounded resigned.

"I haven't gone out of my way to tell them, but good chance they have seen or read something in the news." He told her.

"Well if they don't know this is going to be a bit of a surprise for them." She laughed. "So will I see you tonight?"

"I'll be at the beach later. Usual spot. Usual reason." He answered. "You're welcome to drop by."

"Sure thing. I can't wait. See ya then. Love you." She said.

"Love you too. See ya then." He cut the call and went back to his sisters. "Happy now?"

"Yup!" They answered.

"Good. So can I go now?" He didn't wait for an answer. He just headed for the front door hoping to avoid anymore interference by his sisters.

"Don't forget about Saturday." Lisa said. "You don't want me to come looking for you."

"Don't worry. You wouldn't have to. She's eager to meet you. We'll be here." He hurried down the walk trying to get far enough away that she wouldn't follow him. This time he succeeded.

* * *

Emma was waiting on the beach for the other girls to arrive. She'd swam out early so she'd have some time to think before they all arrived. So far nothing new had come to mind on the whole eclipse situation.

In addition to thinking she'd also wanted enough time to be dry before they arrived. She'd spent part of the last hour trying different ways to dry herself. She hadn't made any progress. Logically it shouldn't have bothered her, yet it did. All of her sisters could use their powers to get dry faster. She couldn't. And she didn't know if she'd ever figure out a way that didn't involve frostbite.

But the girls were almost here. She could see the boat out on the water now. They'd be here soon, they'd have fun, and she'd put her concerns on the shelf to look at later.

It took them almost fifteen minutes from when she was first able to see them until they actually got to the beach. She noticed that the first thing they all did on seeing here already here was to start looking around. Who or what they were looking for she didn't know, but figured they'd tell her once they got over to her.

"Emma. You're not wearing a swim suit." Was the first thing she heard once they got over too her.

"You didn't take a boat here either did you?" Was the second thing.

"Would you all just go ahead and ask." Emma said having finally figured out what they'd been hinting at all day. "Because the answer is yes."

Instead one of the girls scooped up a double hand full of sea water and tossed it at her.

"Or you could do that." Emma said wiping the water out of her eyes. "Though we really prefer people not to."

Soon enough she fell over as her tail formed. The girls were impressed and started asking questions all at once. It was such a mess of voices, Emma couldn't make out who was asking what, or even what was being asked.

Emma rolled her eyes and yelled at them to try and get their attention. It took a few tries before they got quite enough to listen. "Okay, first I need a towel so I can get dry. Second I can't answer everyone's questions if you all talk at once, so one at a time please. And finally I though this was supposed to be a party not an inquisition."

"Sorry Em." They all said more or less at once.

One of them handed her a towel and then they started in on the questions. Some were expected. When did it happen? How did it happen? Is this why you left the team?

Some were not expected. How long had she been together with Ash? How serious were they? Were there any mermen, and if so could she hook them up?

She answered each question as best she could, and tried not to groan out loud at the last few. Thankfully the question train was derailed by the sound of an approaching boat. Everyone turned to look. Emma was surprised to see Will.

"Will. What are you doing here?" She asked him.

"Well this is a bit unexpected." He said. "I though I'd spend some time here with Bella. When we saw the crowd I came ahead to find out what was up."

"Just some old friends of mine from my high school days." Emma said. "We were all on the swim team together before, well, you know."

"Ah." He said. "Well I should go let Bella know. You girls have fun."

"You're welcome to join us." The girls chorused.

"I guess I'll go let Bella know, that is if you want to stay." Emma said.

"Well go ask her. I can wait for her answer." Will said.

Emma rolled her eyes at him. "You're just being lazy."

"Not really." He said back. "It's just faster if you go."

"As I said, lazy!" Emma told him as she stalked to the water.

"You sound like Laura." Will joked as she dove in.

She was half tempted to turn back and drag him into the water. But since to do that she'd have to first get dry again, and she didn't have Cleo's power, that wasn't an option. Instead she dove down and took off for the underwater cave that led to the pool. She did have to admit he was right on one thing: It would be faster for her.

"Hey, Bella." She said as she came to the surface of the pool.

"Hey, Em. Where's Will?" She asked in return.

"He's on the beach. Some old friends of mine from when I was on the swim team in high school are holding a beach party. They said to let you know you are welcome to join us. He sent me to tell you because it's faster for me to do so. I think he's just being lazy." Emma quickly explained.

"Sounds fun. And he's right you know." Bella said with a chuckle. "It is faster for us."

"Doesn't change that he's being lazy." Emma said flatly.

"You sound like Laura." Bella said as she dove down and took off.

"He said that too." Emma commented to herself and followed.

It didn't take her long to catch up to Bella, but then Bella surprised her and took off towards the shore. Emma hesitated for only a moment before a feeling of excitement took over and she took off after her. The excitement was only short lived though. It wasn't very far to the beach.

"Feeling better, Em?" Bella asked as they surfaced.

"A little. But that was too short." Emma said as they started to drag themselves over the sand.

"Emma that's just amazing." One of the girls yelled out as they swarmed the two mermaids.

"Just how fast can you guys swim?" Another asked.

"I want to race you." Yet another said. "Even though it looks like I would stand no chance, I still want to."

"Race you to shore and back." Bella offered.

Emma looked at her in shock. "You want to race? Since when?"

"I know it's not my scene, but they look like they'd enjoy the demonstration-" Bella gave a shrug. "So why not."

Emma needed no more prompting then that. "You are going to loose you know."

"I've been at this longer than you. I might know a few tricks that you don't." Bella countered.

Emma laughed with eager anticipation. "You're on!"

The girls turned to look at Will. Emma noticed that the girls from the swim team looked almost as eager as she felt. "Will you mind starting us off?"

"Sure." He said with an amused grin. "Get in the water and I'll give you a count."

Emma and Bella got out to the water and Will gave a count. As soon as he yelled out go Emma took off with Bella right next to her. Emma was shocked as Bella actually pulled ahead. She put forth more effort but only managed to make up some of the distance.

Her swimmer instincts took over and she shifted to the side so she could get a better view of Bella's swimming. It didn't take her long to see that Bella's years of being a mermaid had allowed her to have a smoother technique. It made sense to her. Emma was well aware of just how much difference a good technique could make.

She relaxed and started to mimic Bella's motions. Smoothing out her body to lower resistance and increase her speed. It made up some distance but by now Bella had quite a lead. Emma was going to have to count on her extra speed from all the racing she'd done to make up for it. She just hoped it would be enough.

They came through the turn at shore and Emma was please to see that Bella didn't have a very good turn. It let her make up a lot of ground as she quickly and smoothly turned around. They were half way back and Emma was pleased to see that she was now even with Bella. She also noticed that Bella was starting to slow down. Her lack of racing experience meant she didn't have the same stamina as Emma did.

They came into shore at Mako with Emma half a length ahead. She felt more alive then she had in a while. She couldn't help but smile as a thought crossed her mind. With what she'd just learned from watching Bella, she was going to mop the floor with Rikki in their next race.

"I though I had you." Bella said. "Didn't think you'd figure it out that fast."

"I've spent years racing. I knew there had to be a reason you were going faster than me." Emma said as they slowly pulled themselves out of the water. "So I watched and emulated. You really have a good technique. More then I thought possible."

"Thanks." Bella said with a smile. "Coming from you that means a lot."

"Oh. My. God! Emma that was just so awesome." The girls from the team swarmed them.

"Glad you enjoyed the show. Now can you let me get dry please?" Emma said to them.

"Here you go." Bella said and in seconds Emma found herself dry.

"Thanks, Bella." Emma tried to keep the envy out of her voice. She knew she'd failed when Bella told her she'd figure it out one day.

"How did you do that?" One of the girls breathed.

"Just something mermaids can do." Bella said. "Emma can freeze things and I do this."

Saying that Bella turned the water to jelly and got herself dry.

"You've done it now." Will came over to her and kissed her. "They are not going to stop until you tell them everything now."

"I guess I should call the others." Emma said.

"I think Rikki and Laura are free," Bella said. "But I know Cleo's at work all afternoon."

"Cleo's a mermaid too!" Several of the girls exclaimed.

"Was she one back at your last party?" Some of the others asked.

"Yes. She's the reason all the drinks exploded." Emma decided to admit. "It was the only thing she could think to do to keep you from tossing her in the air in the sleeping bag and finding out."

"And your other friend, Rikki, I think she was there too right?" Another girl said. "She's one too?"

"Yes." Emma said taking a seat on a towel.

"Tell us everything." Was the next demand.

"Okay. But I should call the others here." Emma said.

"It's okay." Bella said. "We'll let you have some time alone with your friends. I think the others would agree to that too."

Will walked over to his boat. "We'll catch you later Em. If you want to talk we'll be at the boat house."

Emma nodded her acceptance to this and waved goodbye to them. Will got his boat out in to the water and Bella dove into the waves and took off leaving a wake trail behind her. Emma turned to her old friends from the swim team and though about where to begin.

She spent the next few hours catching them up on everything. They had a lot of questions and she tried her best to answer them all. She even raced a few of them out a ways and back. She had fun.

And though it all she though about how much she'd missed this. She loved the speed, but it was such an advantage over the girls that she felt no challenge in the races. She made her choice. She'd do it. For a week she'd go back to swimming as a normal girl. To see if felt as much joy in it as she felt in swimming as a mermaid.

She didn't know if it was totally logical, or if she'd even enjoy it. She just knew she had to try it out and see for herself. She'd call the others to the moon pool later. But first she was going to have dinner with Ash. That is if she could get the girls to let her go in time for it.

They didn't seem to want to let her leave.

* * *

Lewis had decided he would visit Cleo at work today. He wanted to surprise her after one of the shows. So he had to time his arrival carefully. He needed to get there before the show but after she would back stage getting ready.

Which is the reason he found himself running across the park at just this moment. It had taken longer to get through the lines at the gates then he'd planned for. He hoped it wasn't because of Cleo.

He got to the stadium only minutes before the show started and was forced to take a seat at the very top. Everyone was crowded down at the bottom, as close to the water tank as possible, and packed so close together there was barely room to climb the stairs. Once he did find a seat he dropped into it and prayed he didn't pass out.

He was sucking in great gulps of air and was feeling light headed and dizzy. He resolved to spend less time buried in book, doing research, in his lab, or fishing, and get some exercise. He clearly needed it. The occasional bit of time he spent in the water snorkeling clearly wasn't enough. Maybe he should join the girls on their daily swims more often.

He filed that thought for later as the show started. He got the shock of his life as it was announced that there would be a special treat for viewers of this show, Cleo was going to be swimming with the dolphins.

"What is she doing?" He asked himself. "This is crazy."

He resolved to ask her about it after the show. For now, though, there was nothing he could do to stop it. So he did the only thing he could do. He watched the show.

He realized several things as the show progressed. First that Cleo was clearly having fun. Second that her boss, Laurie, was an expert in keeping the audience focused on the fact that it was a dolphin show. And finally that he had to admit that seeing Cleo in the water with the dolphins was amazing to watch.

He found he was cheering her on and clapping loudly as she guided the dolphins though tricks and behaviors. He was not unaware of the fact that everyone else was clapping at the chance to see a mermaid and he was just happy to see her happy. But then he loved her.

In due time the show ended and everyone filed out. He walked down to the edge of the pool and caught the attention of her boss.

"Hey, Laurie!" He called out. "Can you let Cleo know I'm here."

"Lewis right?" Laurie called back to him.

"Yeah."

"You better not be here to bother her." Laurie warned him.

"We're dating, Laurie." Lewis told him.

"Oh." Laurie looked a bit sheepish. "I'll let her know you came to visit. Just remember she is working right now."

"I will." Lewis promised. "And thanks."

Laurie just waved and headed back stage. Lewis leaned against the edge of the tank and stared into space while he waited for Cleo to come around. He'd been expecting her to have dried off and walked out. Instead he found himself almost pulled into the tank as Cleo burst out of the water and hooked her arms around him and kissed him.

"Mmph!" He let out as he fell forward. He windmilled his arms a bit then got his hands on the edge of the tank just in time to keep himself from falling in.

"Is that all you're going to say?" Cleo demanded looking a bit upset.

"Oh it's not that I'm unhappy to be greeted by you in such a manner," He was quick to assure her. "You just surprised me and I almost fell in."

"Oh." Cleo blushed a bit. He though she looked beautiful like that.

"It's okay." He told her. "So why were you in the water?"

"I do it sometimes. When I feel like it." She told him. "But not every time. Keeps the crowd guessing and get's more people to show up."

"Is that the only reason?" He asked. "Better crowds for the shows?"

"No." She laughed pleasantly. "It's just a bonus. I really only do it if I feel like swimming with the dolphins. Though Ronnie made the choice for me this time."

"Oh he did, did he?" Lewis couldn't help but smile. He knew quite well how much trouble that particular dolphin could be.

"Yes. I was in the back letting him into the back tank for the show and he decided to splash me. Each time I got dry he just did it again." She rolled her eyes. "Eventually I just gave up and figured I'd humor him this once."

Lewis found this just as funny as Cleo did and they both laughed together.

"So why did you come here today?" Cleo asked him.

"Well I wanted to surprise you," He began.

"You did. In a good way." Cleo told him with another kiss. "Was that the only reason?"

"No. I also wanted to know if you'd like to join me for dinner after you finish work tonight." He told her. "So, are you interested?"

"I'd love to." She nearly dragged him into the pool with her in her excitement. "Should I call you when I get done tonight?"

"Sure." He noticed Laurie in the back. "But it looks like I have kept you long enough. Can't get your boss mad at you now can I."

"Okay." Cleo said. "Oh by the way. Denman's here. You should go see her. She found out something interesting that you might like to see."

"Where is she." He tried to not sound annoyed about that.

"In the lab." Cleo said. "Just give her a chance to prove she's learned her lesson and changed for the better. She is trying to make up for it. Anyways I'll see you later."

"Later." He said to her and watched as she dove down and swam to the back.

He sighed as he considered what she'd told him and decided that he would take her advice and talk to Denman. He headed to the lab.

Denman looked up as he entered and got noticeably pale as she saw him. She let out a breath as she saw him and tried to speak. She failed and after taking a few deep breaths she tried again. He just waited.

"Lewis. Welcome." She managed to say.

"Denman." He said blandly as he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.

"Lewis I'm sorry. Sorry I lied to you. Sorry I tricked you. And sorry I used you as bait for the girls. I'm sorry..."

"Accepted." He interrupted her. "Now Cleo said that you found out something I'd be interested in seeing."

"You're not mad?" She said stunned. "You're not going to hit me or anything."

"First off I don't hit people. Second I figured if you would apologize honestly then I'd let it go." He explained. "It's not my nature to hold a grudge. I can't say I'll forgive you but I will give you a fresh start. Just don't expect us to be friends right from the start either."

"I suppose that's fair." She said. "Thank you for being so understanding."

He just nodded. "So what's this discovery that Cleo though I'd be interested in."

She showed him. He had to admit it was impressive. It explained a lot. And gave him a lot of new ideas as well. He was even more shocked when Denman asked if he'd be willing to let her get some DNA swabs from him during the coming week. He didn't know what she suspected but had to admit he was curious. He made only one condition, that being that he helped with all the tests and research.

He was even more shocked when she not only agreed but seemed excited to have his assistance. He left feeling that maybe he and the Dr. could possibly end up being working friends. He'd give her a chance anyways. Time would tell.

* * *

Ash decided to get freshened up for his date with Emma. He had just finished his shower and was in the middle of shaving when he got Emma's text that she was on her way to meet him. She warned him she would be swimming back to her house to get ready and he should head over there to pick her up as soon as he could.

With a smile he quickly finished shaving and went to get dressed. The place Emma liked was a moderately nice sea food restaurant so he got out a long sleeve button down shirt, a pair of nice pants, and a pair of dressy shoes. Satisfied he headed out.

He didn't hurry overmuch. He knew that Emma would need some time to get ready herself. Her swimming home just meant he didn't need to sit around and kill time until she got home. He couldn't help but smile at the prospect of a nice evening with the girl he loved.

He arrived in good time and politely knocked on the door. Emma's mother, Lisa, answered and invited him in with a warm smile.

"Hello, Ash. Emma told us you guys were going out tonight. She should be ready soon. I'll let her know you are here." And with that she hurried towards the upstairs.

"Thanks, Mrs. Gilbert." He said then decided he'd take a seat on the couch to wait.

He didn't get a chance though as Elliot rushed in to say hi. "Hey Ash? When are you going to go back to teaching horseback riding. I'm ready for my next lesson."

"Hey, Elliot." He replied. "Not until I get my own ranch."

"When will that be?"

"Not for a while."

"Elliot. Let Ash relax. He's here for your sister." Neil scolded his son. "Welcome Ash."

"Mr. Gilbert." Ash said a bit nervously.

"Relax Ash I'm not going to hurt you." Neil said with a chuckle.

Ash gave a slightly nervous smile. "Well I guess it's just the whole fact that I'm dating your daughter and I half expect you to say I'm not good enough for her. Even after all this time I just keep expecting it."

Neil let out a warm laugh. "I guess I can see that. I used to worry about that when I was your age and Lisa and I were dating."

"Yeah. Like Dad said we're all cool with you dating my sister." Elliot added.

"Besides," Lisa added coming back downstairs. "She trusted you with her secret even before she told us. That means a lot in my book."

Ash felt himself relax. "There is something I want to ask you while Emma's still getting ready. I'd like to keep it from her for a bit longer though."

"We don't like to keep secrets from each other." Neil said. "Though we understand why Emma kept that from us for so long. "

"It's not so much a secret as a surprise for her and I..." He let out a deep breath and then, determined, continued.

"I'd like your blessing to marry her." He blurted out almost to fast to hear.

"Could you say that again?" Neil asked. "A bit slower this time, though."

"I'll try." Ash said. "I'm just really nervous about it."

"Sounded to me like you were asking about marrying my sister." Elliot said.

"Something like that." Ash took another deep breath, then, after a moment to organize his thoughts, he explained. "I want to ask your permission to ask her. I guess you could say I want the final choice to be hers but I still want to know that you approve of me asking her. If that makes any sense."

"I think that makes sense." Lisa said. "Neil?"

"I think Ash is a fine young man." He smiled. "I have no objections."

"So if you marry my sister that would make you my brother?" Elliot asked. Ash nodded not sure what the kid was getting at. "So would that mean I'd get free lessons when you open your own ranch?"

"Elliot!" Lisa scolded her son.

"What? It's a valid question." Elliot defended himself. Everyone else just chuckled.

"So when do you plan to actually ask her then?" Neil wondered.

"Has Emma told you about next week yet?" Ash asked. Neil and Lisa nodded. "I was thinking after that. It would be a bit too hectic during."

"Or you could just ask me now?" Emma said from right behind him. He spun startled and saw Emma standing less then a meter away from him. She put her arms around his neck and he heard shuffling behind him and saw her family leaving the room out of the corner of his eye. "I wouldn't mind you know."

"Well I had planed to make this a bit more romantic." He said more to himself.

"Oh?" Emma had a mischievous smile on her face. "In that case would you prefer to wait until dessert tonight?"

He sighed. "Not exactly what I'd meant. But no." He reached into his pocket. "You're just lucky I brought this with me tonight."

"You weren't going to bring the ring?" She accused.

"Well like I said I had planned to wait till after the craziness of next week, but I figured your mother, at least, would want to see it." He explained.

She seemed mollified by his explanation. "Well?"

He figured if he was going to do this he'd do it right. He got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. He was sure it was heartfelt, serious, and sweet. Too bad he was so nervous he couldn't remember a word of it.

"Yes I will Ash." Emma replied holding out her hand. He just blinked and stared at it. She laughed, "This is where you put the ring on my hand."

"Oh right." He quickly did so.

"It's beautiful, Ash. Thank you." She told him.

"Oh let me see dear." Lisa said rushing back into the room.

"Welcome to the family, Ash." Neil said to him holding out his hand.

"Thank you, Sir." Ash took the offered hand. "So what did I say?"

"Lisa got it all on film for you. You can watch it all later." Neil told him. "But right now I believe you two were planning on dinner."

"Right. Emma we don't want to be late for our reservation." He told her.

"Of course. I'll see you later Mom." Emma said and followed him to the door.

"Have fun you two." Lisa said as they headed out.

"I'll drive." Emma said. "Mom's letting me borrow the car for this."

"Well I guess we'll be early then." Ash said with a smile.

"I guess we will." She agreed.

They did arrive early, but since the restaurant wasn't crowded they were able to get seated immediately.

"So you do realize what I like to order when I come here. Right?" Emma asked.

"Yup." Ash said looking over the menu. "Lobster."

"You're okay with that?"

"I figured that before choosing here for tonight." He smiled at her. "If I minded I'd have picked somewhere else. Besides we now have even more reason to celebrate."

"You're right we do." Emma said. "And I have something to tell you too."

"Can I take a guess?" He asked.

"Sure." She had a smile that said she doubted he'd succeed.

"You want to do the trade." He watched as her jaw dropped.

"How... how did you guess?" She demanded stunned.

"Well you said you'd make up your mind today so I had a fifty-fifty chance at getting it right."

"Oh. Right. I did say that."

She gave a small laugh and was about to say more when the waiter came by to see if they were ready to order. Ash had made his choice to try one of their new specials and Emma went with her usual order of lobster. Once they were alone again they resumed the conversation.

"So I guess I'll be staying at your place then." He said. "So you can keep me out of trouble."

"I wonder if you'll be using the guest room or sharing my room." Emma mused.

"I'll use the guest room." Emma glared at him. "But only because I don't want to be disrespectful to your parents. It is their house."

Emma's expression softened as she considered that. "Yeah, I guess you are right about that. I could go to your place."

"Well you are an adult so your parents couldn't say no..." He started.

"But I did make an agreement with them when I asked to stay at home. Until I finish college or get married I obey their rules and be respectful."

"And a night here or there is okay but they won't like if you stay with me for a full week."

"Basically. But we are engaged now. They might allow it."

"Well never hurts to ask."

"You going to tell the others?" Ash asked changing the subject.

"I think I'll call them to the pool later."

"You should let them know now, then." He suggested.

Emma pulled out her phone and quickly sent out the message. As soon as she had there was a text alert sound from the booth right behind where she was sitting. A familiar one too. Ash shared a curious expression with Emma then they both leaned out and looked.

"Oh hi Cleo. Lewis." Emma said as she saw the couple seated behind her. Ash gave a wave and tried not to let his amusement show too much. "You guys decided to have dinner out too?"

"Hi Emma. Hi Ash." They both replied.

"We've been here for a while." Lewis said, the plates of half eaten food gave proof of that. "I guess we just missed it when you guys got here."

"Not that we knew to be looking for you anyways." Cleo finished. "What's that on your hand?"

"Oh this?" Emma said trying to hide her hand. "I'll tell you later. I want to let you all know at once."

Cleo narrowed here eyes and glared at her. "It looked like a ring."

"Um..." Emma looked a bit stressed. "Sorry to interrupt your diner. I'll see you at the pool later."

Lewis let out a soft chuckle. "You should know that won't work Em. You and Cleo have been friends for a very long time. So are congratulations in order?"

Ash knew he'd failed to hide his grin, and Emma looking like she got caught with her hand in the proverbial cookie jar didn't help. She held out her left hand so Cleo could get a good look. Cleo made an excited sound that Ash couldn't understand and started pelting Emma with questions.

"Cleo could you keep it down?" He asked politely. "People are starting to stare."

"Hey it's an engagement ring. People can stare all they want for this." Cleo told him.

There was a sudden burst of applause from other near by patrons and a few of them even raised a glass in toast. Thankfully the waiter brought their food at that point so Emma was able to convince Cleo to hold the rest of her questions until later. Cleo however decided that the best way to deal with that was to simply pick up her food and join them at their table. With a resigned sigh Lewis followed suit.

Ash shared a look with Lewis that said the same thing. 'So much for alone time with our girlfriends.'

* * *

I decided I would head to see Byron. I knew he would be at his favorite surfing spot, practicing. I also decided I would surprise him.

By that I meant I'd wait until he was paddling out and pop out of the water next to him. Well I got the surprise part right at least. He was so shocked when I suddenly popped out of the water next to him he fell off his board.

"Oh." I tried to catch him. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to startle you like that."

He just laughed. "Its okay. I'm glad to see you came out to watch though."

"Next time I'll just watch from the shore." I offered.

"Nah. I'm cool with it. Just next time give me some warning first." He said pulling himself back up onto his board. I had to hold it still for him before he could. "Cause it's really hard to climb back on when you're far enough out that you can't brace on the bottom."

"Want me to give you a boost?" I offered.

"Nah." He looked around. "Tides going in so the waves are starting to get bigger."

I though about it. It made sense as the tide rose the waves would push harder as they went farther onto shore. Suddenly I had a really crazy idea.

"We should get Cleo out here one day to make some really big waves for ya." I joked.

"That would be a bad idea." He told me. "Surfers better than I have gotten killed trying to surf waves that strong."

"Oh. Sorry. I just though that bigger waves would be more fun." I was mortified that it had sounded like I was trying to kill him.

"Oh they are. But only to a point." He said gently. "If Cleo kept it in check, and practiced a bit at it first, it would be a lot of fun. Just don't you go and help her out the way you do. That would be dangerous."

"Right. So you going to surf or just sit here?" I said with a smile. "You know I love watching you do your thing."

"Well I need to go a bit farther out. You could give me a push in that direction if you like." He gave me his half grin that he knew I couldn't resist.

I got a good grip on the tail end of his board and pushed him out to where the waves were just starting to crest. I helped him get turned about and then dove under as the next wave came in. I watched as it caught him up and carried him towards shore only to realize that I couldn't really watch him from back here.

I took off quickly, but at an angle from him, and easily got ahead of him. He was amazing to watch. He'd once told me each move had it's own name. I'd tried to remember them but I'd failed miserably. So I just watched him and enjoyed the show.

He had clearly just arrived recently. He keep it to easier tricks for his first few runs. I asked him why when I talked to him between each run. He told me he was just getting warmed up. Near the end he did do a few more of the flashy tricks and one new one he was working on. He kept wiping out on that one.

"So why did you keep doing that one at the end?" I asked him once he was finished for the day and we were on the beach.

"It's called a..." He saw my expression of total incomprehension. " Never mind I forgot you're not good with the names of the tricks."

"There's just too many to remember. I don't know how you keep them all straight." I said.

"How many different types of coral can you name?" He asked.

I started listing them off both common names and scientific. I was about half way down the list when I noticed his blank expression. "Okay I get the point. You can keep it all straight because this is your area of expertise."

"Yeah. So that last one I was doing is a new trick I'm working on. It's more advanced and while I can't do it yet I did make good progress today." He smiled. "I might have to get a different type of wax for my board. One that has better grip. It'll cost a bit more but I think I'll need it from here on out."

He'd explained about wax and grip to me once before. I didn't fully understand it all but I got enough of the gist of it to realize it was very important. So I just nodded my agreement.

"So you planning to get dry anytime soon?" He asked me. "You are drawing a crowd."

I sighed. He was right, I was. I held out my hand and dried off. It didn't take as long as normal but that was due to being almost completely dry already. Once I was dry I stood up and brushed the sand off myself.

"Let's take a walk?" I offered. "Down to the cove."

"Sure." He quickly got up and grabbed his board. "You wouldn't happen to have the time though? I don't keep a watch on me when I come out here. Not after I lost the last one anyways."

I laughed and pulled out my cell phone to check. I didn't wear a wrist watch, my phone had a clock, that was good enough for me. I noticed that I had a text message waiting. I opened it and saw that Emma wanted to meet us at the moon pool at eight-thirty. It was already eight. So much for walking to the cove.

"It's just after eight." I told him. "But Em wants to meet at the pool in half an hour."

"So. Plenty of time to walk on the beach for a bit." He said. "You don't have to leave for at least another fifteen minutes."

"True." We started walking. "So what should I wear on Saturday?"

"It's casual, though I guess you could wear a swim suit if you like." We shared an amused look.

"Not that I actually need one." I said.

"Well knowing my sisters they'll try to talk you into sitting in a lounge chair while talking with them." He shrugged. "Up to you if you want to do any sun bathing."

"I guess that's a good enough reason." I had just the one for it too. "You'll have to help me with the sunscreen."

"Aren't most of those water based." He asked.

"Yeah. I have to use the mineral based ones that have no water," They actually worked better in my experience so it wasn't a big issue for me. "But like everyone else in the world I need help with my back."

"Can do."

"Should I bring anything? A snack or something to share?" I didn't want to show up empty handed. It would be rude.

"I supposed you could bring some chips or something like that if you really feel you need to." He said after a moment of thought. "Most everything else is likely covered."

I was distracted from answering by the sight of a wake shooting past in the open water. I didn't know who it was but I did know it was one of us. It was too fast for a boat, not that you could see one on the surface anyways, and it was heading towards Mako. I figured my time was up and I needed to head out.

"Sorry Byron. I need to go now." I said to him.

"Yeah I saw it too." He put his board down and took me in his arms. "Have a good swim and I'll see you tomorrow. We still have that debate thing."

"I only have one argument so far." I admitted. "But after talking with my friend Linda I'm seriously thinking of going for it anyways."

"Yeah, I was having trouble like that too. I only have one as well." He gave me a kiss that made my toes curl and caused me to forget that I was supposed to be heading to the moon pool right now. "But we can talk more on that tomorrow. Hurry up or you're going to be late to meet the others."

"Okay." I hope I didn't sound too dazed, but he had the effect on me sometimes.

Not that I'd ever let him know that.

I hurried to the water and dove in. In short order I had my tail and was speeding along towards Mako. I wasn't the last one to arrive, but I was close. The only one missing when I surfaced in the pool was Bella.

"Hey guys. Where's Bella?" I asked looking around.

"We though she'd be with you." Was the confused response I got from Rikki. "You guys do room together."

"True. But I wasn't at home." I told her. "I was hanging out on the beach."

"With Byron I'd bet." Emma said.

I just shrugged not rising to the bait. We were a couple now and I'd gotten enough razzing from them about the two of us already. Granted with how happy we were together I really shouldn't have tried so hard to avoid him at the start. Eh, hindsight and all that.

"She did say she was planning to spend the day with Will." I said instead. "Why are you all out of the water."

"Emma has something to tell us," Cleo half sang. It still didn't sound good from her. "But she wants to wait for Bella to get here first."

Fair enough. I started to pull myself out of the water. "Cleo a hand please."

Cleo gave me an 'are you stupid?' look before smacking herself on the forehead as she figured it out. She held out her hand and the water surged under me. With another twist she dropped me on the sand fully dry.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

We settled in to wait. Our only other option was to swim out and fetch Bella ourselves since there was no phone service on Mako, especially this close to the full moon. It was almost ten after nine when Bella finally surfaced.

"Sorry I'm late." She said. "I was a bit busy."

Cleo, Emma, and I all snickered. Sure she was.

"What am I missing?" Rikki demanded.

"Nothing." We all said. Bella just turned beat red.

"So should I get out and dry then?" Bella quickly said to head Rikki off.

Cleo, who was still laughing, helped her out and got her dry. Then I made it a point to ask Emma why she called us here before Rikki could get started on pestering any of us for what we knew about Bella.

"Okay well I have two things to announce." Emma said. "First I am going to do the trade."

"Okay." I said. "I should add on something to that. I did end up talking to Linda and strangely she says we should do it, but she won't say why."

"I talked to her as well." Cleo said backing me up. "And she didn't want to say why simply because she thinks Laura should have figured it out for herself already."

"You talked to Denman!" Rikki burst out. "Why would you willingly do that?"

"Because she found out something very interesting and I wanted to know it. Also she is trying to help. We really need to stop being so stubborn about giving her a second chance." Cleo said. "I don't forgive her but I do think we shouldn't keep holding it against her when she really is trying hard to make up for it all."

"Have you gone mental?" Rikki demanded. "I worked with her once only because Laura was right about the long term risks of trying to keep this all quiet. But that don't mean I trust her."

"Are you sure about this Cleo?" Emma added. "I agree with Rikki. Can we really trust her."

"I think we should give her the chance to prove she's learned from her mistake and let her earn our trust." Cleo argued. "She doesn't expect us to forgive her, I sure don't, but I'm not going to keep holding the past against her either."

"I'll..." Emma looked at Rikki. "We'll think about it. And what did it mean that you should have figured it out?"

"I'm not sure." I said. "I've been thinking about it all day and I'm sure there is something I'm forgetting."

I shrugged. I knew there had to be a reason. It was probably something simple and once I figured it out I'd kick myself for overlooking it, but for now I was stumped.

"But you did say you had two bits of news." I reminded Emma.

"Yeah. You did." Bella said. "So what's the second?"

For answer Emma held out her left hand to show us a ring. I didn't know if it was a real diamond, but I knew what it was for. I could barely contain my excitement.

I wasn't the only one.

"Oh Emma!" Bella squealed.

"It's beautiful!" I gave her a hug. "You must be so happy."

"So it's a big rock." Rikki said. "And you're engaged. There a point?"

"Rikki!" We all glared at her only to find that she was on the verge of laughing.

"Oh you all look so priceless right now." A laugh escaped her. "Really I'm happy for you Emma."

I sighed. Trust Rikki to play off her reputation of being insensitive. We all broke out in to laughter.

"Okay Rikki. That was a good one." I admitted once we stopped laughing.

"So how did he ask?" Bella asked.

"Did he get down on one knee?" I tossed in.

"I'll tell you everything." Emma said. "So I was upstairs getting changed and..."


	4. Chapter 4

Authors Note:

Wow it sure has been a long time since I got around to this. Life has been a bit of a mess for me lately but a friend gave me some good advice.

No matter how busy or messed up things in your life get, never forget to do things that you enjoy.

I guess the point of this is balance. You need to do the good stuff you like to equal out all the other stuff. So I'm going to make time to do my writing to keep myself from going totally crazy.

Chapter 4:

Countdown: Thursday

I was dreaming. I knew because I'd had this dream before. We all had, in one form or another.

I was strapped to an operating table, in my tail, while unscrupulous scientist talked among themselves. The room was sterile white and bright lights hung overhead. I was unable to move, gagged, and not even given the courtesy of sedation.

I struggled to move, to wake up, to do anything, but I was held down too tightly. I felt my panic level rising as a one of the faceless pair of eyes drew lines on my chest and stomach with a pen. I knew what was coming next, and I desperately wanted to wake up. Right now.

I could only watch in horror as the scalpel descended towards me. Just as it touched my I jerked away. I felt something tear and I hit the floor. I scrambled backwards and took deep gasping breaths as I tried to figure out if I was now awake or still dreaming.

I felt hands grab my shoulders and I pushed them away and backed myself into the nearest corner. I don't know how long I was sitting there for when I was gathered up into someones arms and gently held. Still freaked out from the nightmare I tried to get away at first, but slowly calmed down as I recognized the voice muttering reassuring words to me.

It was Bryon. I don't know how or why he was here but I knew that if he was I was no longer trapped in my dream.

I let out a few shuddering breaths and broke down in to relieved sobs. He just held me and kept telling me that it was going to be OK now. Eventually the worst of the fear left, but I was still need to be sure that I was awake, alive, and free. I started to kiss him with a desperate need.

"Laura." He held me gently. "No. Not like this."

"Not like what." I demanded about to break down again.

"Your still in a panic."

"You don't want me?" I felt hurt that he would deny me any form of comfort right now.

"That's not it." He said. "You have no idea how hard it is to not just give in right now. But I don't want you to be in a panic."

"If I wasn't panicked?" I asked.

"We wouldn't be talking."

I laughed. I had no idea why, but it felt good. It broke through the last of the fear and relaxed me. Once I'd managed to stop I was able to focus enough to take a good look around. I was in my room, on the floor, wearing just a very transparent night gown, and being held by my boyfriend that was heroically trying to not take advantage of me. Said boyfriend was also wearing just a pair of shorts, an open shirt, and no shoes.

"Why don't you have any shoes on?" I had no idea why that was the focus of my scattered wits right now instead of my lack of modest attire, but it was.

"Bella called me and said you'd had a nightmare and was completely panicked. So I grabbed the first pair of shorts and the first shirt I saw and ran right over." He explained.

"I had a nightmare and you ran right over?" Even to me that sounded a bit odd.

"Well Bella did explain what she guessed it might be. She mentioned she's had similar nightmares."

"She's right." I said. "We've all had some variation of a nightmare where we are about to be subjected to various involuntary tests. I usually deal with mine better than this though."

"You don't have to deal with them alone you know." He said with a smile. "You have your sisters and you have me. We'll always be here to prove that they are just dreams and they can't hurt you."

"Thank you." I threw my arms around him. "That means a lot."

He responded by patting my shoulder. At first softly, then more intensely, then for no reason that I could see he poked me in the ribs.

"Hey!" I was not thrilled at such treatment and backed off to tell him as much.

As soon as I let go he sucked in a huge breath of air and started coughing. I suddenly realized that I'd been holding him so tightly he couldn't breath. His urgent pats on my shoulder had been meant to get my attention and clearly poking my ribs had been a last resort. I went from feeling angry to feeling guilty.

"Oh shoot. I'm so sorry." I stammered out.

"It's fine." He said. "Good to see you have calmed down and are back to your normal cheerful self."

Suddenly it clicked into my mind that we were sitting on the floor of my bedroom, each wearing very little, and that Bella had left me an embarrassing gift in my nightstand. I slowly kissed him while gently pushing his shirt off.

"Laura?" He asked.

"I'm calm now." I said. "And Bella made sure to plan ahead for us. If and when."

He didn't argue with me.

* * *

Bella found herself sitting on the front porch of the apartment she shared with Laura. She hadn't been able to snap Laura out of the panic she'd been in and had taken a guess at what kind of dream had caused it. She didn't know the exact details of Laura's version, none of them had shared those, but if it was anything like her own version it would be bad.

Usually it wasn't so bad that it resulted in blind panic and horrified screams that caused sheets to be torn to pieces as one tried to scramble away from things only they could see, but they were still pretty bad. Once Laura had practically attacked her, Bella had called Byron. Her hope was that he could get her to calm down, and if they finally took their relationship forward that would just be a bonus. It was that hope that had her sitting out side to give them some time alone.

Bella was glaring at a few of the neighbors that had popped out with camera phones when she heard the door creak open behind her and Laura sat down next to her. She noticed that Laura was wide awake and had a glow to her features.

"Well finally." Bella said.

"Hey." Laura looked at her. "Oh my God. You planned this."

"Right I planned for you to have the worst of our nightmares just so I could get you and Byron to sleep with each other." Bella countered. "Please."

"Well, OK. Not the first part." Laura glared at her. "But the second part is something you've been trying to convince me to do for a while now."

"You liked it, so quit complaining." Bella told her.

"We're cooking breakfast if you want to join us." Laura said as she stood and went back inside.

Bella couldn't help but grin as she followed.

* * *

Byron was in the kitchen dicing up vegetables for omelets. He was still in a bit of a daze if he was being truthful with himself. He loved Laura, that wasn't in question, but he'd known that she'd been 'inexperienced' with men before they started dating. So he'd never pressured her or anything.

At the same time he'd figured that in a panic she'd try to latch onto anything that made her know that she was alive, safe, and not in the nightmare. And so he'd braced himself for it. He'd thought about the arguments he would make to let her know that while he did desire her he also loved and respected her. It had been harder then he'd anticipated.

Once she had calmed down he'd expected her to want a shower, some coffee, and food. He figured that he'd be in the kitchen cooking like now, but that he'd be helping Bella make comfort food for Laura. He hadn't expected her to still want him. Not that he was complaining.

Byron was pulled out of his musings by Laura's return. Bella was not to far behind.

"Hey, Love." He greeted Laura.

"Hey, to you too." She replied with a kiss.

"Bella." He said respectfully to her.

"Morning, Byron. Thanks for coming to help." Bella said.

"Anything to help Laura."

Bella let out a small laugh that had him so embarrassed that he was glad he'd finished chopping or he might have cut himself. Laura just glared at her roommate.

"So. We're making omelets." He said in an attempt to change the subject. "Would you like one?"

"Sure." Bella replied. "Laura what time do you work today?"

"Eight." She answered.

Bryon turned to look at the clock. "Well it's a quarter till seven now."

"Can you two handle cooking? I need to get ready for work." Laura said as she rushed into her room.

"Sure." Bella called to the closed door. She turned to face him. "So..."

"Not having this conversation with you." Byron said before she could say more.

"How do you know what I was gonna ask?" Bella said from the other side of the counter.

"I saw the look on your face and guessed." Byron told her as he cracked eggs into a bowl. "It seems I was right."

"Well you know Laura won't tell me anything when it comes to you two." Bella said looking a bit dejected.

"That's a good thing in my book." He told her as he continued to cook. "Now don't get me wrong. I like you girls and the guys too, I consider you all good friends, but I love Laura and I won't share our personal stuff."

Bella laughed. "Can't blame a girl for trying. So what can I do to help."

"Set places. Get some drinks. I'm almost done here." He said as he folded the first omelet over.

Bella got some plates out just as Laura came back dressed for work and holding a coffee pot. Byron smiled at her not surprised about the coffee. "There enough in there for me to get a cup too?"

For answer Laura grabbed two mugs and quickly filled them. She handed one to him and the other to Bella.

"How much did you have?" Bella asked her.

"None actually. I'm feeling awake enough that I didn't want any just yet." Laura said. Bryon quickly took a sip of his coffee to hide his reaction.

'I'm really gonna need to work on my poker face.' He thought to himself.

"Oh, really." Bella said. Byron choked on his coffee.

He quickly reached over, grabbed a plate, slide the first omelet on it, and put it in front of Laura. Then he started getting eggs ready for the next one. He didn't miss the glare Laura shot at Bella. Or the fact that Bella just smirked back. He decided then an there that once Laura headed out the door for work he'd make his escape too. He did not want to get pinned down by Bella and grilled.

With that in mind he quickly went back to cooking.

* * *

Emma was working briskly through the morning rush. She was energetic and happy. She loved the pace and the needed attention to detail. She thrived on it.

Take four tables worth of orders, no problem. Serve drinks to three others, piece of cake. The challenge of not mixing it all up, thrilling.

Emma spun around to head back to the counter with the new orders and just missed bumping into one of the other servers. The drinks on the tray wobbled but the server, staring wide eyed at Emma, managed to keep them from spilling all over her boss.

"Sorry, Emma. I'll be more careful."

"No spill, no harm." Emma said and added another to her mental list. Avoiding spills, damn near impossible.

Emma went over the mental list she kept of when the other employees were supposed to take their breaks. "Sean, break time."

"No problem." The young man replied heading off the floor.

"Hey, Em. Bella's here." One of the girls said as she came behind the counter.

Emma looked up and gave a quick wave to Bella. She quickly finished up the drinks and put them on a tray to be served and carried them out.

She noted that Bella sat at the table the girls always used when they came in. Even the regulars avoided sitting there and new customers where steered clear by the regulars. None of them knew how it had come to happen but now only they used that table.

After she dropped off the orders she went over to Bella. "So what can I get you? The usual or something else?"

"Usual is fine. You have a minute?" Bella replied.

"Not right now. I'm not due for my break for another hour at least." She answered.

"Oh. Okay." Bella said.

Emma quickly went and made up Bella's order and returned. "I didn't know you had a rehearsal scheduled for today."

"We don't." Bella said. "I just needed to talk to someone. But you're all busy."

"Is it about," Emma leaned in and finished in a whisper. "Sunday?"

"No." Bella said. "Laura had the dream again last night."

"Oh." Emma said.

"I didn't say anything to her but I had it again too. Just the night before." Bella took a sip of her drink. "But Laura woke up so panicked she didn't even know it was me when I went to check on her."

Emma thought quickly. "Go into the office, I'll tell the others you need to talk about the bands schedule and join you shortly."

Bella headed to the office and Emma quickly flagged down the most senior employee on the floor and told her to take over while she hashed out stuff for the band with Bella. The girl agreed with a smile and Emma quickly made her exit.

Once in the office Emma closed and locked the door before taking a seat. "I don't have much time so fill me in as quickly as you can."

"So she woke up so scared she fought me off when I went in." Bella said. "She was so terrified she was screaming at first. I couldn't do anything for her so I called Byron."

"You called Byron?" Emma blurted out surprised.

"Yeah. He came right over. Ran really. Didn't even remember to put on shoes." Bella said. "But it worked. He got her to calm down. And then some. She didn't even have her usual coffee this morning."

Emma took a few moments to figure out what Bella meant. Then she just stared at Bella. She tried a few times to speak but all she managed to do was open and close her mouth a few times.

"I don't think we should bring that up to Rikki or Cleo though." Bella said.

"I can agree." Emma said finally finding her voice. "But for the rest of it."

"Yeah."Bella agreed. "Byron got her calm but only we know just how deep that fear runs. I think that's why you, Cleo, and Rikki still don't really trust Linda Denman."

"How do you mean?" Emma asked wondering if maybe Bella was on to something.

"She almost made those dreams a reality and I think on some level you can't let that go."

Emma let out a breath. Bella might just be right. They never talked about the dreams much. It was just something they all lived with. They were hoping now that they were public and protected that the dreams would stop. But with Denman being around it was hard for the three of them she had almost trapped.

"I can get that for Rikki, Cleo, and myself. But you and Laura don't have those memories of her." Emma mused out loud. "So why do you have them so suddenly."

"Just 'cause we were never trapped doesn't mean we didn't fear it happening. And next week has me all messed up in the head. I'm still not sure I should go for it, but I'll still have to keep an eye on you three. That's nerve wracking enough to cause this." Bella said.

"That might explain Laura then too." Emma said. "And she's supposed to make up her mind today, that's got to have her a bit off too."

"Should we call a meeting today or let her?" Bella asked.

"If she feels she needs to she will, so let her do it. But we should tell the others so they are ready. Don't mention her and Bryon beyond that he was able to calm her down though." Emma said. "I'll take care of letting Rikki know when she get's here later. Can you track down Cleo?"

"I think Cleo's at work so Laura might just tell her personally." Bella said.

"Well follow up on that." Emma said. "Just to make sure."

"Rikki's right. You really do plan for everything." Bella joked.

"It's better to work out all the what if's before hand so they don't catch you by surprise later." Emma said with a pleased smile. "Now I have to get back to work, so I'll see you later."

"Later." Bella called our from behind her as Emma went back to work.

She really hoped Laura was alright. After all, none of them had ever had that dream so bad they woke up not knowing if they were still dreaming or not.

At least they hadn't, until now.

* * *

Cleo was working with Ronnie. They were in one of the back training tanks and Cleo was running him through his routine for the shows. The only difference from the usual was that instead of being on the small pier she was in the water with him.

If she had to be honest with herself, Cleo had to admit that she was enjoying herself. So it was a bit shocking when Ronnie shot off towards the tanks gate. Cleo's surprise was short lived when she saw the flash of orange and red that was Laura arriving for work.

Cleo watched as her sister fended off Ronnie's typically enthusiastic greetings and then fell in beside her and swam with her to the pier.

"Morning, Laura." Cleo greeted her as they surfaced.

"Morning, Cleo!" Laura replied with way too much enthusiasm for this early in the morning.

"How much coffee have you had?" Cleo demanded to know.

"None actually." Laura replied in the same tone again. Cleo narrowed her eyes and stared at Laura for a moment.

"You're... you're actually telling me the truth." Cleo said half shocked and half unsure. "What happened."

"Nothing happened." Laura said too fast as her face turned a red brighter then her hair.

"I'm not buying it." Cleo said as they pulled themselves out of the water. "You are not a morning person, and you should not be this chipper at this hour unless you overdosed on coffee, which you haven't."

"Well I did have that dream again last night and Bella had to get Byron over to calm me down." Laura turned even more red at this.

Cleo wasn't stupid. She did often choose to overlook somethings to respect other people's right to privacy, but that wasn't because she was clueless or unobservant. She could read between the lines. Byron done a bit more for her then just calm her down, but it was clear that Laura didn't want to share such a personal experience. So Cleo just nodded her head and didn't press.

"So how bad was it this time?" Cleo asked instead as they stood and headed towards the break areas.

"I woke up screaming, tore the sheets as I fought free, attacked Bella, and didn't recognize Byron at first either." Laura said looking glad that Cleo had not pursued the other topic.

"Do you think it has anything to do with next week?" Cleo asked.

"I wouldn't bet against it."

Cleo just nodded as she paused to consider. Laura hadn't made up her mind yet. But just having to keep an eye on the other three would be nerve wracking enough. And then Denman, to everyone's surprise, had recommended that she also make the switch.

As Cleo really stopped to consider it all she could almost feel the pressure. She wouldn't be surprised if she ended up having her own nightmare tonight. Cleo gave herself a mental shake and put that fear out of her mind.

"So are you going to take Denman's advice and do the trade?" Cleo asked.

"I want to talk with Byron once more before I make my final choice." Laura said. "We were supposed to debate the pro's and con's of it all but neither of us have any good points. However, after last night I really am leaning towards it."

"And this morning, too." Cleo said. Laura turned bright red again. "I meant waking up screaming and all."

"Oh." Laura said and then let out a nervous laugh.

"Well we can talk more later. You need to get started and I need to help get things set up for the first show of the day." Cleo said. "You want to call a meeting after work?"

"I'll think about it. Keep your phone handy." Laura said as she went off to take care of her duties.

Cleo waved and then hurried towards the show tank to help get things set up for the morning show.

* * *

Rikki was at Sea World trying, and so far failing, to find either Cleo or Laura. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her and she wanted to see this discovery of Denman's for herself. Even if it meant dealing with the Dr.

"Where could they be?" Rikki asked herself out loud.

"Where could who be?" A hauntingly familiar voice asked from behind her.

Rikki slowly turned around to face Denman. "I was looking for Laura or Cleo so they could help me find you."

"Ah." Was the only reply.

"I want to see what you found out." Rikki said, then she paused as she realized that she was grinding her teeth. She then remembered what Cleo had asked, not that she forgive but just that she put it in the past. Rikki took a deep breath and then added a more polite 'please'.

"Sure." Denman said. "If you would follow me to the lab I can show you. Lewis is there too so you'll have some company."

Rikki followed as Denman led the way. "You know I can't forgive you."

"I know."

"But Cleo want's me to at least put it all in the past and not continue to hold it against you. I don't know if I can, but Cleo is like a sister to me so for her sake I'll at least try."

"I suppose that's fair." Denman paused. "Rikki what I did was wrong. I know I'll never fully be able to make amends for it even if I lived for centuries. But I can promise to never make the same mistakes again."

"I guess that will have to do." Rikki huffed out a breath. "Let's just drop this. It's over and done with. So we'll move on and see what happens."

Denman just nodded and they walked the rest of the way in silence. After passing through a few doors that led to areas normally off limits to the public they arrived at the lab. Lewis was indeed there, his eyes glued to the eyepiece of a microscope, and Rikki was secretly relieved to see him. For all her talk about letting bygones be bygones she really didn't want to be alone with Denman in a lab.

"Hey, Lewis." Rikki called out.

Lewis jerked up, clearly surprised that she was here. "Rikki. What are you doing here?"

"I came to see what all the fuss was about." Rikki told him.

"Well then I've got a sample right here. You can watch the reaction yourself if you like." Lewis gestured to the microscope.

"Sure." Rikki looked into the eyepiece as Lewis added something to the sample. The reaction was surprising.

"What was that?" She asked.

"That was just a cold virus." Denman said while holding out a note pad. "I translated this into layman's terms. It explains everything."

Rikki read over it. She was impressed but made sure to keep it hidden from the others. No need for them to see that. She did have an image to maintain.

"So basically we can't get sick, but we can be poisoned. I guess that's good to know." She said once done.

"It explains why Emma reacted so badly to the coral that time. I thought she was progressing too fast given that she's a full grown human." Lewis said. "After all Cleo's fish was getting sick at a slower rate and he was far smaller."

"Huh. I wondered about that too." Rikki said remembering the incident.

"You'll have to tell me about that sometime." Denman said.

"Get Emma to fill you in." Rikki said. "I agree. She needs to see this."

"Lewis. There you are." Cleo said as she came into the lab. "I heard you were here but I couldn't find you anywhere. Maybe I should have checked here first."

"Cleo." Lewis said his entire face lighting up. Rikki rolled her eyes.

"Rikki what are you doing here?" Cleo asked finally noticing her.

"She came to see me on your recommendation." Denman said.

"I can answer for myself you know." Rikki snapped. Denman held up her hands in surrender. "What she said."

Rikki watched as Cleo rolled her eyes and let out a resigned sigh. "Same as always eh?"

Rikki just crossed her arms. "Do you expect me to suddenly change?"

"No. Not really." Cleo said.

"Do we need to separate you two?" Lewis asked.

Both girls broke out into laughter.

"This is how we always are." Cleo said.

"Yup." Rikki agreed. "So why were you looking for Lewis?"

"I was wondering if he knew anything about how to prevent nightmares." Cleo said.

Rikki sobered instantly. She knew the nightmare Cleo meant. If she was worried about that then they would need some place where it was just them to talk about it. It was one of the few things Rikki couldn't act tough about, try though she might. It touched on their worst fears.

"Are you talking about a dream where you are locked up and dissected?" Denman asked.

"How do you know about that." Three voices asked her at once.

"Laura." Denman suddenly got a look on her face. "That's why you all hate me so much. I almost made those nightmares of yours real. How could I have been so stupid."

Rikki realized that there was more then just a little truth to that statement. She hadn't liked being caged, but the fear of the dreams had made the whole thing worse. She knew that for a long time the scientists in their dreams had been faceless. But while that was still true for Bella and Laura, for Emma, Cleo, and herself it was often Denman they saw.

Usually by morning the horror had faded some and certain details faded into the background. They shook off Denman's image in the dream as just a bad memory given too much credence, but now she questioned that.

What if it wasn't so simple. What if because of that even her subconscious couldn't let go. What if it was the same for Cleo and Emma.

She'd have to ask them later. For now she had a lot of deep thinking and, though she hated to admit it, some serious soul searching to be done about her resentment towards the Dr.

For now though she had other concerns. "Why this sudden interest in our dreams?"

"Laura woke up screaming this morning, attacked Bella, and then didn't recognize Byron when Bella called him to help." Cleo explained.

"Hey, even I'll admit I've had a few bad renditions," Rikki said. "But none of us have woken up screaming before."

"Well I guess that's no longer true." Cleo said. "So, Lewis, do you know anything that might help?"

"Don't eat chocolate before going to sleep." He said. "Beyond that I'll have to do some research and see if there's anything that might help."

"I'll help." Denman offered. "Laura's one of the only friends I have. If I can help her I will."

Rikki just stared at her. This was an admission that she never expected. Denman could be human enough to have a friend, more so one of her own sisters was that friend. Furthermore that she cared about her so much she'd go out of her way to help with out being asked and that it was an honest desire.

Rikki decided that she would take her leave. She had a lot to think about and would need time to go over it all. She also needed to get to the cafe to start her shift soon, in fact a look at the clock showed she only had ten minutes to get there.

"I need to go. I have to be at the cafe in ten." Rikki said heading to the door.

"You're gonna have to swim." Cleo noted. "I'll show you the quickest way to the water."

"Thanks, Cleo." Rikki turned to Denman. "I won't forgive you, I doubt any of us ever will, but I will give you a real chance to prove you've learned. Don't blow it."

"I won't." Denman said.

Rikki gave her a good stare down before hurrying out the door behind Cleo. Cleo did indeed know a fast way to the water and they got there in less than a minute. Rikki didn't waste any time and dove in. As soon as she got her tail she took off. She shot down the coast and turned into the canals. She followed them for a ways, dodging the occasional small boat or two, until she got to the small marina that the cafe overlooked.

Rikki knew she wouldn't enjoy the next part, that being the gawking that would happen once she got out of the water. But there was no help for it. She had enough time to get dry and get inside before her shift started, and it wasn't like she could hide here.

Word had spread about the girls, and how two worked at the cafe and one of them co-owned it. That pretty much shot any chance at keeping it quite. Not that they went out of their way to hide anymore but none of them would ever really be comfortable with it. But it had been their choice so she just dealt with it.

Granted not graciously but she did.

Rikki grabbed the edge of the small pier, and with a strong flick of her tail, pulled herself out of the water. As she hit the peak of her rise she twisted to the side and rolled up onto the dock. Without any delay she immediately began to dry herself off.

It only took her half a minute, but with the crowd that was starting to form that was still too long for her taste. Once dry she headed to the cafe, glaring at anyone that stared too long, and straight into the back office. She didn't have to wait long before Emma came in.

"You swam to work?" Emma stated right off.

"Hello to you to Em." Rikki replied.

"You never swim to work because it make to much of a spectacle." Emma said.

"I stopped off to see that discovery of Denman's and stayed too long." Rikki said knowing that just getting it out now would mean less digging questions from Emma.

"What are you on?" Emma scoffed. "You hate her as much as I do."

"I know. But I was curious." Rikki said. "And feelings for her aside you really do need to see what she found out. That at least is worth looking at."

"Hmm..." Emma mused. "I'll think about it."

Rikki looked at her skeptically but eventually just shrugged. Knowing Emma as she did, she figured that Emma would not just think about it but over think it. But that wasn't her concern. She quickly started to get ready to do the books so that she could take over the floor for Emma when her shift ended later..

"So Laura had the dream again last night." Emma started.

"I heard." Rikki said before Emma could repeat everything Cleo had already told her. "Not much we can do about it right now. If Laura want's help she'll ask for it."

"Alright. I guess that's good enough." Emma said. "I'll get back to work then."

Rikki waved her off and got started on the paperwork. Ten minutes later she wanted to murder the person that came up with the whole concept. But that was typical for her.

* * *

Bella had spent the morning doing some light cleaning around the apartment she shared with Laura. Byron had fled almost as soon as Laura had left for work. Clearly he hadn't wanted to risk the questions she would have asked. She didn't mind. She'd pin Laura down later and get the details from her.

But there was only so much she could do around the house before her worry about Laura's nightmare built to point where she felt the need to talk to her about it. However, knowing Laura, calling would be futile. Laura would jump to the conclusion that Bella wanted to talk about Byron and would dodge her calls. This meant that if she wanted to see how her sister and roommate was holding up she'd have to make the trip out to the park.

So she packed up the cleaning supplies, got changed into something suitable for the warm weather, and headed out. While swimming would be faster and less subject to random camera phones and drooling stares, she refused to sneak in with out paying the entrance fees. That meant walking to the front gate. However after only walking four blocks she rationalized that she could just get out of the water outside the park and avoid most of this.

Bella arrived at the edge of the park and slowly surfaced. With just her eyes above the level of the water she looked around for a secluded spot to change back. The best she found was a spot with a lot of trees all clumped together, and she decided it would half to do.

She quickly swam to shore and after one more quick look around she pulled herself out of the water. She quickly focused to get herself dry before anyone happened to wander by. All the girls knew that for some reason pictures of them in tails were even more sought after then just pictures of them walking around. So she really wanted to avoid that.

Bella got herself dry with out incident and hurried towards the public entrance. She noticed that the lines were really long and let out a sigh. This had been the norm ever since the girls had stopped hiding. Everyone wanted to get a glimpse of either Cleo or Laura while they were working. The same thing was happening at the cafe too. But Bella put that out of her mind as she got in line.

Twenty minutes later she'd only managed to move halfway up the line and so far no one had noticed who she was. At least she hoped so. Every half minute or so she would scan the crowd around her looking for camera phones pointed in her direction and so far she hadn't seen any.

In her distraction she accidentally bumped into the person in front of her. She made a quick apology and stepped back. The man she'd bumped into half turned and said it was no problem then did a double take.

"You're Bella. The mermaid."

Damn it.

With out even bothering to ask he quickly pulled out his phone and held it up.

"Really? With out even asking?" Bella snapped. A heartbeat later she realized she should have kept her mouth shut as everyone near by turned to look at her. Fingers were pointed at her as people got the attention of their friends and family. Whispers were exchanged and then everyone with a camera started taking pictures of her.

In short order there was a mob of people trying to get close to her. She was badgered with questions, hands touching her everywhere, not all in places she wanted to be touched in either, and then there were the endless cameras. Bella had never felt claustrophobic before, but with the press of bodies giving her no where to go she was beginning to.

So when people were suddenly shoved aside and a ring of park security formed around her she felt grateful for whoever had come to her rescue.

"Laurie we need to do something about this. It's hard for us to visit if we have to risk this each time." Bella looked up to find Cleo and Laurie standing inside the ring.

Bella climbed to her feet and gave Cleo a hug. "Thank you, Cleo. Am I ever glad to see you."

"Come on. Let's get you inside before this gets any worse." Cleo said.

"With two of us here that's a given." Bella said.

"Laurie were ready." Cleo told her boss and with a nod Laurie gave some instructions to security and they started moving.

"You hurt anywhere, Bella?" Laurie asked moving with them in the center of the ring of security.

"I'd kill for a bath to wash the feel of being touched off me, but otherwise I'm fine." Bella replied.

"If you want to, Ronnie would love some company for a while." Cleo said. "He's in his back tank out of view of the public. I'll even join you if you like."

"As long as you're not late for the next show, Cleo, you can take all the time you need." Laurie agreed.

"Yes please." Bella said. "Laurie how are the arrangements coming for that one press conference we agreed to do?"

"Slowly." He answered as he opened an employee only entrance security had gotten them too. "International news teams want in on this and since they only get one the want to make sure they have lists of questions ready. I'll warn you now it's going to be a mess."

"Lovely." Cleo drawled.

"Well after today I want that to be over and done with as soon as possible." Bella told him.

"I'll see what I can do." Laurie said as he quickly led them along the back paths available only to park staff.

"Set a date." Cleo said suddenly. "If they have a deadline they'll have to quit dragging their feet."

"Right." Bella said. "If they complain tell them we set it and they either are ready by then or the miss out."

"That's not a bad idea." Laurie said. "I suppose next week is out. So we'll figure it out after that. Anyways I'll leave you girls alone. I need to get some work done but I can let Laura know you're her if I see her."

"Please do." Bella said with a nod. "I came to talk to her about something anyways."

"No problem." Laurie agreed as he headed off.

"Pool. Now." Bella told Cleo. "I can still feel their hands."

With what had to be a sympathetic shudder Cleo led the way.

* * *

Laurie planned to deliberately seek out Laura, but first he went straight to the office of the park director. He was barely keeping his anger in check. The girls were special, the only ones of their kind, and highly endangered. To see one of them mobbed like that and put at risk was not something he could let sit. He'd long considered what had happened as a possible risk and had been considering ideas on how to deal with it.

With two of the girls working here he knew the others would often come and visit. And since they weren't employees they couldn't just slip in the water entrances as Cleo and Laura had taken to doing. The park staff had been pushing for them to stop doing that, but after what had happened today he was determined to get the directors approval for them to continue. He also hoped to get a solution to the other girls coming to the park for visits.

Finally arriving at the door he paused and after a deep breath to remind himself that barging in would only damage his case, he politely knocked.

"Come in." He heard in an annoyed tone.

While confused he none the less opened the door and stepped in. He saw Director Parker behind her desk as he expected, but he hadn't expected the head of security, Laura, and the visiting marine biologist Dr. Denman to be there as well.

He let out a breath. "I take it you know why I'm here."

"I think I have a reasonably good guess." Director Parker said. "And I think I have to admit I feel the same way. That mess at the entrance should not have happened."

Laurie saw that Laura looked like she was about say something, and by the look on her face it was going to be very undiplomatic, until Dr. Denman put a hand on her shoulder. Laura looked up at her and then stepped back and kept quite.

"You are right. It shouldn't have happened. However you are not responsible for the actions of the general public. You can't control them and even security can only do so much." Dr. Denman said politely.

"Thank you for putting that so kindly." Director Parker said with a smile. "But the park grounds are my responsibility and thus I will have to come up with a plan to keep that from happening again. It's worse since the girls have protected status. This would be so much easier to deal with if it had just been some kind of celebrity. Then I could just make a case that they hire personal security."

"I have a few ideas." Laurie said.

"Let's hear them." The director said.

"As you know Laura and Cleo have taken to using the sea entrances to arrive for work." He said.

"It's a security risk to keep letting them do that." The head of security said. Laurie regretted that he had to check the mans name tag to realize the mans name was Luke.

"Well you're just going to have to come up with some kind of lock system for them to use, because I'm going to officially allow them to do so." Parker said. "And the others too. We'll have to figure out some kind of system to cover the park fees."

"I can tell you the girls are very honest and as long as they know that they can pay the fee in some other way they would be more then glad too." Laurie said.

"Anyone have any ideas on that." Parker asked.

"Key pad entry." Dr. Denman said.

Even Laura looked at her strange for that.

"Put a electronic key pad at the sea entrance to control the gate. Each of the girls has her own code and for the others that don't work here it's tied to a prepaid account of some type that they can use to cover park fees." Dr. Denman explained.

"Wouldn't a key card be easier?" Luke asked.

"We'd have to keep that on us after we changed or else it would vanish with our clothing, were ever that goes too, and we'd also run the risk of losing it while we were out swimming." Laura explained.

"I swear I'll figure out where that all goes one of these days." Dr. Denman said.

"I would love to know that too." Laurie said. "But I think the idea is good. Because it is either that or we construct a new entrance in the water for them to use."

"And a key pad system would cost a lot less to install." Parker finished for him. "I'll start making arrangements for it."

"Thank you." Laurie said.

"Well I suppose that settles things for now." Parker said waving towards the door. "Now if you will excuse me I have work to do."

As they all filed out, Laurie took a moment to get Laura's attention. "Bella wanted to talk to you. She was heading over to Ronnie's tank with Cleo."

"Thanks." Laura said. "Linda I'll catch up to you later. I want to see how Bella's holding up after that."

"Actually I'll join you. If you think that is alright." Dr. Denman offered.

"I don't see why not." Laura turned to him. "Thanks Laurie. You've been such a help for us."

"Just go." Laurie said and waved them off.

* * *

After waving goodbye to Laurie I hurried through the office area's and out to the back areas. Linda followed me trying her best to keep up with me, I was practically running. I had to admit that between my nightmare and Bella getting mobbed I was starting to worry about how things were going for us all.

"Laura could you slow down a bit?" Linda called out from behind me. "I know you're worried but you don't need to run."

I knew that she was right and so I stopped and waited for her to catch up. "Sorry. I guess I more than a bit bothered by this."

"And your having that nightmare this morning has got you even more on edge, I'd assume." Linda added.

I couldn't help a blush as the mention of my nightmare reminded me of other things from this morning.

"Why are you blushing about a nightmare?" Linda asked me looking confused.

"No reason." I said slight cough to cover my nervousness. "Let's go check on Bella."

Linda spun me around and looked me right in the eyes. I knew it would be a dead give away if I couldn't hold her gaze, but even so I found myself looking at the ground, or the wall, anything but her.

"Did Bella call someone to help calm you down?" Linda asked.

She let the silence stretch. I eventually cracked and answered her. "She called Byron."

"Ah." Linda said. "Well that explains you turning red."

She let me go and hurried on ahead.

"That's it?" I asked. "You're not going to pester me for details?"

"No." She answered me with a smile. "It is none of my business. I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't do anything like that unless you wanted to and you know enough to be safe about it. Besides, I may have let my career take over my life and prevent me from finding someone to share my life with, but that's me. Not you."

She turned to me and smiled. "In a way I kind of envy you that."

"You know it is never to late to find someone." I told her as I fell into step next to her.

"I know." She said simply.

We got to the pool to find that Bella and Cleo were both still there, and that Ronnie was having the time of his life playing with them. I wasn't feeling like getting wet just now so I grabbed one of the balls that we used to entertain Ronnie with and tossed it at the water. The splash as it hit accomplished its purpose of catching Cleo's and Bella's attention and they quickly swam to the surface.

"Laura." They both greeted me.

"Denman." Cleo said politely, if not enthusiastically.

"Hey, Linda." Bella called out much more warmly.

"Hello, girls." Linda called back. "How are you holding up after everything Bella?"

"I can still feel their hands on me." Bella said with a slight shudder.

"They grabbed you?" I said getting angry.

"Everywhere." Bella said. "It's as if there was something magical about touching a mermaid, cause a lot of them got that awe struck look and muttered something about not washing that hand ever again."

"Where's Rikki when you need her." I said trying to lighten the mood with a joke.

"Oh trust me I'd have loved to let her loose on that crowd." Bella said in tone that told me that she wasn't joking.

"While I agree that what they did was extremely inappropriate, wouldn't that be over doing it a bit?" Linda asked.

Cleo blinked at her a few times then scrunched up her face. A few moments later I realized that she was trying to not laugh out loud when a muffled laugh escaped.

"Was it something I said?" Linda asked confused.

Cleo lost it. She burst out laughing.

"I never would have figured you'd have a sense of humor." Cleo said once she had calmed down some.

Linda pointed at me. "You can blame her for that."

I laughed lightly at that. "Well it's true that letting Rikki loose on them would be bad, it's really Em that you need to watch out for."

"Very true." Cleo said now having stopped laughing. "Rikki has a temper and a short fuse, but she burns out quick. Emma is the one that you worry about."

"How so?" Linda asked.

"It takes a lot to get Em angry." I said. "But when she does get angry it's a cold unforgiving type that endures."

"You know it's odd that your powers seem to reflect some part of your personalities." Linda said.

"What do you mean by that?" Cleo asked now seeming interested in what Linda had to say.

"You are like water. Mostly easy going and you tend to take things in stride, but much like a tidal wave once you get pushed you have to just ride it out. But afterward you settle back. I think it is why of you three you've been the most willing to give me a second chance." Linda started.

Cleo looked thoughtful as she listed. "That actually makes sense."

"Now you have a shifting personality." Linda said pointing at me. "But ultimately you like to be helpful to others. That's probably why you can amplify the others. Bella seems to be the most stubborn at times. Much like her power to harden water into an unmoving crystal like substance. Rikki flares up but burns out quickly as you said. It fits that her powers can heat up water or start fires."

"And Emma get's frosty when angered or pushed." I finished seeing where she was heading. "And it takes a lot to get her to warm up to you again."

"Well that explains why she and Rikki fight so much. They are literally opposites." Cleo said.

"You could say that you and Bella are opposites too." Linda commented. "With Laura stuck in the middle of all of you."

"I guess that's why we all work so well as a team." Bella said. "We all are a part of the whole. And thanks for the distraction. I'm feeling better now."

"Well I hadn't planned on trying to distract you from what happened but if you feel better that's good." Linda said.

"Well after today I just want to get away from all this." Bella said.

"Speaking of which," Linda said. "I really think all of you should go through with the trade on Sunday. If my suspicions are correct it's very important for you to do so and to pick men for the trade."

"Wait?" Bella said looking stunned. "You want us to do it?"

"Yes. I'll need to do some tests during that week to be sure, but if I'm right it will be very important. As I already said." Linda said again.

"Well after what happened I'm really considering going for it. Even if all I do for the week is stay in our apartment and never go outside." Bella said.

"I'm more inclined to after last night myself." I added. "If doing this stops the dreams for a while I'll take it. I plan to talk with Byron about that later. He's got a say in this too. Just like Lewis, Zane, and Ash did."

"I guess I should go see Will and find out what he thinks of this." Bella agreed. "I was leaning that way a bit as it was."

"Really?" Cleo said. "What got you to do that?"

"Something Rikki said to me. I asked her for some advice about if it would be worth it to be reminded of what it meant to be just a normal human girl again for a week." Bella explained. "Her answer was that sometimes you just have to do it and see for yourself the results."

"Huh. That's rather good advice coming from Rikki." Cleo said.

"Well I think you should." Linda said. "But ultimately the final choice is yours. I just hope you'll let me get some DNA samples during that week."

"I might." Cleo said. "Depends on why."

"Ask Laura. I'm sure she'll figure it out eventually." Linda said.

"I've been a bit distracted to think of it." I said. "But I haven't given up. I will figure this out."

"Well you've been a bit more distracted today them most." Bella said.

I knew what she meant but I refused to rise to her bait. "Yeah. That nightmare was rather worse then usual."

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Bella said.

"I'd drown you if I could." I said.

"Fine." Bella said. "I'll let it go for now."

I knew she meant that. She wouldn't be happy until she pinned me down and got all the details from me. But I had one last card to play.

"Well then I guess I'll just have to ask you about Will at the same time." I told her.

Bella turned bright red then glared at me. "That is not fair."

"Of course it is." I said back.

"Looks like Laura out smarted you." Cleo said.

"All right. I'll let it go." Bella said.

"Thank you." I said. "So why did you come here for me then?"

"Well Byron aside," I glared at her but she just ignored me and continued. "I wanted to see how you were holding up after the nightmare."

"I have to admit it really was worse." I said. "Usually I wake up before the point it got to this time."

"What happened?" Linda asked looking at me with a mix of interest and worry.

"You know how I've told you the basics of it." I said. She nodded. "Well the basics are the same for each of us. We all dream we are prisoner and at some point are about to be cut open to be studied. That's usually the point we tend to wake up at."

I noticed Bella and Cleo share a shudder with me.

"No offense to you, Dr. Denman, but it's usually you I see in that white coat since that day." Cleo added. "I think Rikki and Emma do too."

Linda just sank to the small dock we were standing on and looked miserable. "I will never be able to atone for that. I'll never stop trying though. I just don't think I'll live long enough to."

"Well that's not when I woke up." I continued intending to keep Linda from going on another guilt fueled apology. "I didn't wake up until the scalpel had started to cut into me."

"Wouldn't you have snapped awake when they started to put you under." Linda asked then noticed my look. "Oh hell. That's completely inhumane!"

"Well that explains why you woke up screaming." Bella said. "If my dream ever when that far I'd be screaming too."

"Yeah. Pretty much." I said.

"You should call Emma and Rikki to the moon pool later. We should talk about this. Your dreams are getting worse and we can help." Bella said.

"I might. I want to talk to Byron first. About the trade and the dream." I said. "But there is a good chance I will. I was thinking of calling you all anyways. Cleo already asked about that when I got into work this morning too."

"She said to keep my phone handy." Cleo said to Bella. "Also if you feel up to it you should go see what Denman has discovered. Rikki took a look earlier today."

"In that case I have to see this." Bella said pulling herself out of the water, and ended up splashing me. "Sorry about that Laura."

"Had to happen to me sooner or later." I said as I fell over.

Between Cleo and Bella we both got dry in short order and Bella headed off with Linda to see her research. I was almost done with my shift for the day and needed to get a few last things done and Cleo needed to get Ronnie ready for the next show so we parted ways for now. I suddenly decided that I would feel better about seeing the others at the moon pool later, but I still decided to hold off on the call until after talking to Byron.

* * *

Lisa broke into a run as she finally saw the person she'd just spent the last half hour searching the beach for. Her younger brother, Byron. She knew he always practiced his surfing during the time the tide made the shift to come in. Better waves he said.

What had taken her so long was she didn't know what spot he used. She'd never cared much. Surfing was his thing. Running was hers.

Which was why she'd come looking for him. She'd been on her usual morning run when she'd seen running down the street like a bat out of hell. Three things about that had tipped her off that something was wrong. The fist was he was never up that early with out very good reasons, the second was he was barely dressed, and the third and biggest was that he had been bare foot.

Byron had always joked that he could surf with a broken arm, a cut on his hands, or a black eye, but not with a leg or foot injury. So for him to risk getting his feet cut or blistered set off sisterly warning bells in her head. Hence the reason she'd gone out of her way to track him down.

As she approached him she noticed that he was in the middle of applying wax to his board. That probably meant he had only just arrived. She sighed as she realized that she'd started her search too early, but it explained why she'd been having a hard time finding him.

"So how are you little bro?" She asked as she dropped to the sand on the other side of the board from him.

He looked up as her and rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, Lisa. What do you want?"

He sounded annoyed, but that was usual for him around her. Not that she hadn't earned it over the years, but from her point of view as both an older sibling and as a sister it was her job to annoy the hell out of him. But when push came to shove they were family and she would look out for him no matter the cost.

"Because I saw you run off this morning wearing almost nothing, at an hour you are never awake, and barefoot." He winced at the emphasis she'd put on the last word. "What happened to cause you to do that?"

He let out a sigh and looked at her. "Can we just go back to our usual. You know where you annoy the life out of me and I stoically endure it?"

Lisa found herself stunned by his odd request. "Wait. What?"

"I know how this works. You're my big sister so you get to annoy me." Byron told her. "Shelly annoys me a lot and when I call her on it she says it's a sister's privilege to annoy her brother."

Lisa was going to have to have a talk with her younger sister. She's wasn't supposed to let Byron in on that sisterly secret. But that would have to wait for later. Right now she wanted answers from her brother.

"Well I get double rights because I'm older, but that's not the point right now." She told him. "You never risk getting your feet hurt because it would prevent you from surfing, and since you do it competitively you need to make sure you practice a lot."

"I got a call that there was trouble and so I went to help." Byron said. Lisa didn't miss the way he was being extremely vague. She wasn't about to let him off the hook that easily.

However what she planned to say next was sidelined by the sudden appearance of a rather attractive read head that plopped herself down right in her brothers lap and proceeded to kiss him, in a very possessive manner. Lisa felt a moment of elation. Even though the girl must have mistaken her for some kind of groupie that was trying to get Byron's attentions Lisa had no doubt this was the Laura she'd heard so much about.

"Well, well, well. I finally get to meet her." Lisa said.

The girl's head whipped around as she broke from Byron and stared at her.

Byron cleared his throat and looked over. "Laura I'd like you to meet Lisa. She's my older sister."

Laura's reaction was priceless. Her eyes got really wide and she turned almost as red as her hair. Lisa managed to not laugh openly and held out her hand. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise." Laura said as she took the offered hand and shook it. "I'm sorry about that."

"I'm not." Bryon said with a grin. Laura actually turned an even brighter shade of red.

"So Byron," Laura said. "I though you'd be in the water by now. The tide is really starting to come in and the waves are getting bigger."

"I was just finishing up on prepping my board when Lisa showed up." He said.

"OK." Laura said. "Should I leave you two alone to finish talking so you can get to practice?"

"Oh it's fine. You can stay." Lisa said. "Maybe you can tell me why my brother was awake so early this morning wearing almost nothing and no shoes?"

Lisa had hoped that maybe Laura would have been more willing to fill her in, but at her seemingly innocent question Laura turned even redder, if that was possible, and her brother suddenly turned red.

"Wait a second. You were the one in trouble that my brother was running like a mad man to?" Laura gave a weak nod. "What happened?"

"I had a really bad nightmare and my roommate called Byron to help when she couldn't get me to calm down." Laura said and both her and Byron went even redder.

Lisa didn't have to be told anymore. Clearly her brother had done more for her then to just calm her down. However, she chose to put that on the shelf for when she could annoy her brother alone with it. She didn't want to alienate Laura at the first meeting. Besides the longer she looked at Laura the more a nagging suspicion pulled at her thoughts.

"Um Laura. I might be wrong but is your last name Westbrook by any chance?" Lisa asked.

Laura groaned and covered her face. "Yes. Yes it is."

Lisa was speechless as she just stared. She really wanted to ask, just to be sure, but couldn't seem to get a single word out.

While she just stared Laura turned and dug around in Byron's duffel bag. In short order she found a bottle of water, opened it, and poured a bit on the back of her hand. Bryon took the bottle from her and then put his arm behind her just in time to catch her as she fell backwards as her legs and feet turned into a bright orange tail with a matching halter top made out of orange scales.

"Breath." Laura told her. "I'm pretty sure you can't hold your breath nearly as long as I can. And you're starting to tune blue anyways."

Lisa was sure she wasn't close to turning blue from lack of air, but Laura was right about the first part, she did need to breath. She sucked in a lung full of air as she realized that she wasn't hallucinating. Laura really was one of the mermaids.

Byron had pulled out his towel and handed to Laura so she could get dry while Lisa had been taking her time to wrap her mind around the fact that her brother was intending to marry a mermaid.

"You'd have found out on Saturday when I came over to visit so it's not a big deal if you find out now." Laura said as she got dry and her body shifted back to being clothed and having feet and legs.

"Laura you have succeeded in rendering my sister completely speechless. I'm impressed, I've been trying to find a way to do that since we were kids." Byron said with the snarkiest grin she'd ever seen him have.

If he'd been intending to snap her out of her shock by being annoying, he succeeded.

"I will get you for that, Byron." Lisa warned.

"Yeah. I'm sure you will." Byron agreed. "However, I need to get to practice. You two are welcome to stay and watch if you like."

"I'll be here. I need to talk to you afterward anyways." Laura told him. "Did you want to stay and talk, Lisa? I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

"Hundreds." Lisa admitted. "But I think they can wait till Saturday. I supposed you won't be needing to wear any bathers though."

"Bathers?" Laura asked looking completely confused.

"Those would be what you call a bathing suit." Byron told her as he picked up his board and walked towards the water.

"Oh. Well I probably still will so we can do some sun bathing." Laura said. "Unless you guys don't plan too."

"We can if you like." Lisa said. "I can't wait. I'll see you then."

"Sure thing. I'm looking forward to it." Laura said sounding excited now. "Wouldn't miss it."

"Great! I'll see you then." Lisa said as she stood up and headed off with a wave. She couldn't wait to get home and tell Shelly all about Laura, and her suspicions about what had happened this morning too.

It was a sister thing.

* * *

As usual I enjoyed my time watching Byron practice. I could see that he was making some improvements on that new trick he'd been working on. I'd also enjoyed meeting his sister, though I did wish I hadn't made such a fool of myself at the start.

I hadn't been too surprised when she had figured out who, or rather what, I was. I knew she would have found out at the party this weekend but I'd figured she'd need to see me change to fully accept it. Most people usually did. I was resigned to that little fact.

Didn't mean I enjoyed needing to prove it though.

I'd also hadn't missed that several other beach goers had been quick to pull out cameras when I did. That part I was really getting sick of. More so after the mobbing that had happened to Bella earlier. I didn't know what the fall out from that would be. I resolved to follow up with Linda on that next time I saw her.

For now I just enjoyed my time watching Byron practice his surfing. I noticed after a bit that I wasn't the only one watching him. Some were groups of girls sunbathing, but a lot more were other surfers that I could see were impressed with his skills.

I didn't care about the girls. Byron wasn't interested in anyone but me, I was solidly sure of that, and would ignore their advances anyways. The other surfers kinda amused me. I was sure a few of them would try and see if they could convince him to give them some pointers or even a lesson or two.

Knowing Byron as I did I'd place good money on him just telling them to attend the surf class he taught every morning. He loved teaching, he just didn't have time for it right now. After he was done he'd promised to talk with me and so he wouldn't have time to help them just now.

I'd got so caught up in watching Byron that time just flew by. Before I knew it he was done and walking back to me. I noticed a few of the groups of girls look annoyed as he sat down next to me, but I didn't care. I couldn't help but smile at him as he pulled out his towel and started to get dry.

"Want me to help with that?" I asked.

"Depends. How much of a hurry are you in to talk?" He said back with his charming half grin.

I blushed as I guessed what he thought I wanted to talk about. "Actually I wanted to talk about Sunday."

"Cove?" He asked.

"Cove." I agreed.

"Can you grab my bag for me?" He asked. "Just toss it over my shoulder."

"I can carry it for you." I offered.

"Nah. It's not that heavy. Just hard to pick it up and hold my board at the same time." He explained.

"Ah." I held the strap open as he ducked his head though and settled it into place.

We headed down the beach towards the cove that we used to keep out of public view. It wasn't a choice swimming spot, too many rocks, so it was a good place for us to be alone to talk. It didn't take us long to get down to the cove. Byron had picked a spot not to far from it for his practice today.

Once we arrived Byron took a moment to get his board stuffed into the sand so it was standing up.

"Why do surfers do that?" I asked him. I'd been curious about it ever since I'd seen it in a movie years ago.

"It's easier to grab it after we pick up all our other gear when we do this." He explained. "No other reason then that really."

"Ah." I breathed. I realized that I was stalling. Now that the time had come to talk I found I wanted to wait.

"So you wanted to talk about Sunday." Byron prompted me. "I'm sorry to say I couldn't really think of anything good for that debate you wanted."

"Me either." I admitted. "But after the morning I had I'm leaning towards going for it. The nightmare part of the morning I mean."

"Yeah. I figured you meant that part." Byron said with a smile. "Cause the second part was just amazing."

Now that it was just the two of us I allowed myself to think about that part. Amazing seemed an understatement. "That doesn't quite seem to cover it."

"True." Byron said. "But I think we should focus on Sunday first. That seems to be the most important thing on you mind."

"True enough." I agreed. "Do you think I leaning that way out of fear of a dream?"

"Possibly." He paused, looking thoughtful. "But I get the impression you were leaning that way even before that happened."

"I think you'd be right." I paused for thought myself. I realized that I'd started leaning towards it after my conversation with Linda that morning. What ever the reason was that she was for this had seemed important to her, and I'd known her long enough to know that was often reason enough. Add in that she seemed to think I should know why she was being so insistent and it just added up to me going for it.

"You are. I've been leaning that way since Linda agreed it was a good idea to."

"Linda?" Byron asked confused.

"Linda Denman. I was her assistant and intern for over a year."

"Oh her. You never told me her that her name was Linda."

I winced slightly at that. He was right I had kinda left out her first name when I'd told him about her back when we'd met.

"Well if she thinks you should, and says there is a good reason, then maybe you should consider it." Byron said.

"And you're still OK with this?" I asked.

"I'm her for you anything you need." He said.

"Anything?" I asked.

"What did you have in mind?" He asked suspicious.

"Well I know Bella was planning to visit Will and will probably not be back to the apartment till late, if at all." I said sounding very coy.

"Are you suggesting what I think you are?" He asked archly.

"Only one way for you to find out." I said.

In answer he grabbed his bag and surf board and we headed towards my place. "Think I should call the girls to the pool later?"

"How about we discuss that later." Byron said. "Besides you haven't told me if you'd made up your mind yet."

I pondered for a moment. "I think I will. I'll figure out why she seems so adamant about it. Now I'll race you back to my place."

I took off running.

"No fair I've got to carry my board." He laughed.

Some how despite the handicap he still managed to keep up with me.

* * *

Bella surfaced carefully. She kept just her eyes above the water and looked around slowly. She didn't see anyone hovering around Will's boat house. Confident that no one was watching for her she swam to the shore and pulled herself out.

Still feeling a bit paranoid she dried herself as quickly as possible and hurried around to the front door. "Will it's me."

The door opened and she hurried inside. She quickly went around the room closing the windows and the blinds.

"Something happened?" Will asked. Clearly he had picked up on her nervousness.

"You could say that." Bella said rubbing her arms. She could still feel the phantom hands.

Will came over and gently held her.

"Tell me about it." He whispered. "So I can help you."

His gentle love and acceptance of her gave her a sense of peace. And so she told him what had happened. By the end he was holding her tightly in his arms, as if to belatedly shield her from the crowd. Bella had to admit even now, hours after the fact, she felt safe.

It didn't hurt that his touch was erasing the phantoms either.

"I wish I could do something to fix this." Will said. "But it already happened and it's too late now to fix it."

"You're helping right now." Bella told him. "Being with you makes me forget their hands. Makes me feel safe again. So please just - just hold me. For a while longer."

He didn't say anything. He just held her. Like she asked.

In due time she gently pushed free and went over to the couch and sat down. Will followed her and just waited. He just put his arm around her and pulled her in close.

"I'm going to do the trade." Bella said.

"No." Will said.

She drew away from him shocked. "It's my choice."

"I understand that. But I don't want you to do this in reaction to what happened today. That's all." He explained.

Bella let out a soft hum as her annoyance evaporated. His reason was the only one she could accept for him to say no. And that's because he would be right. To go through with the trade just because of what happened would not be reason enough. Thankfully it wasn't her only reason and not the main one either.

"It's part of the reason, but only a small part." Bella told him. "Ever since our talk with Zane and Rikki the other day I've been considering what she said."

"And?"

"And I really feel that I do need to see for myself. Also Laura's friend and former teacher, Linda Denman, thinks there is a good reason for us all to do this."

"She does?" Will looked half curious and half confused. Bella didn't blame him for that. It was how she'd felt when she'd been told.

"Yup. Laura hasn't figured it out yet and I wouldn't even know where to start, but Denman seems rather adamant about this so I felt I should give it proper consideration."

"And how long have you considered it for?"

"Laura told us about her insistence the other day. So since then."

"And you're sure of this?" She glared at him. He held up his hands as if to say 'easy'. "You know you have my full support in this. Always. I just want you to be sure."

Bella gave him one last look then went over everything one last time. She mentally weighed everything, her reasons, the pro's and con's, her feelings, and her worries. "Yes. I'm sure."

"Then we need to start getting ready." Will said. "I will be staying at your place so you can watch over me. Right."

Bella blushed as she realized that she'd forgotten that little detail. "Right. I'd forgotten that part."

She turned to him. "But before that there is something I need you to do. To help me."

"Anything. You know that." Will told her.

"Being with you, in your arms, it wipes away the feeling of being grabbed by that mob of people. I want you to help me completely forget that." Bella whispered between kisses.

* * *

Emma had just finished her bath and was about to get changed for bed when her phone's text message ring tone went off. With a sigh she picked it up and saw the call from Laura to meet at the pool. It only took Emma a moment to remember that today was the day Laura had promised to tell them her choice. Though it could be because she wanted to talk about her nightmare. Or both. Either way Emma hurried down stairs.

"Where are you off to, dear?" Emma's mother asked.

"Laura want's us all to meet at the moon pool to talk about something." Emma said heading for the back door.

"The moon pool? Isn't that out at Mako?" Her mother asked. "Is it safe for you to go swimming that far in the dark?"

Emma let out a small chuckle. Her mother's worry was endearing in a way, but completely unnecessary.

"I'll be fine Mom. We do this all the time." Emma reassured her. "We just swim a little slower so we don't run into anything."

"Well try to be quiet when you come back in."

Emma was glad that her parents had lifted her curfew. It was nice to not worry about having to keep track of time when you didn't have easy access to a clock. "I will."

Emma hurried out to the water and quickly dove in. As soon as she had her tail she took off. She took the time to practice her new swimming form, the one she'd picked up from watching Bella, and was pleased to note that it was becoming easier. So much easier that she had to watch her speed so she didn't crash into anything.

Emma surfaced in the moon pool. Her brief cheer at being the first there ruined by seeing Laura sitting off to the side.

"Don't look so glum, Em." Laura held up her phone. "I sent the text after I was already here. So you are the first to arrive, in a way."

That made Emma feel better. She hadn't lost to Laura, she hadn't even been in the race. She had just started to pull herself out of the water when Rikki surfaced.

Rikki just glared at her. "We are racing back."

"Anytime, Rikki." Emma couldn't wait. She was going to prove to Rikki once and for all that she was the fastest. "Now do you mind helping me get dry?"

"Still can't dry yourself?" Rikki's tone was a mix of teasing and superiority.

Emma glared at Rikki. 'That's it. I'm going to bury her in that race.' Emma thought.

"You two never stop. I've kinda come to notice that." Laura said with a laugh. "Fire and Ice."

"What about fire and ice?" Cleo asked having arrived in time to catch the end of Laura's statement.

"Rikki and Emma." Laura clarified. "They're arguing again."

"What else is new." Cleo said as she used her power to lift herself out of the water and instantly dry herself.

Emma couldn't help but be insanely envious. Though she was surprised to see that Rikki looked almost as jealous.

"You're getting good at that." Emma commented.

"I've been practicing." Cleo admitted as with a twist of her hand she dried off Emma and Rikki.

"I can do that for myself you know." Rikki complained.

"So we're just waiting for Bella now." Laura said. Clearly trying to head off the usual banter of the three local mermaids. She should have learned by now.

"But my way is so much faster." Cleo crowed.

"I still say it's not fair that you guys can get dry on your own." Emma added.

"Ha! I could at least get myself dry from the first day. I didn't need to practice anything." Rikki gloated.

"Are they at it again?" Bella asked.

"Yes." Laura said and then she pushed all three back into the water.

As they surfaced Emma, Cleo, and Rikki all glared at her.

"What was that for?" They all demanded at once.

"Well I had to get you three to stop somehow." Laura said. "And you wouldn't listen when I tried to ask you to stop."

"You didn't ask us to stop." Emma said not remembering any question of the type.

"Actually I did. Three times. You just couldn't hear me over your one ups contest." Laura said and turned to walk back to where she'd been waiting.

Emma was glad when Cleo took the opportunity to spray her with water. Laura let out a shriek of surprise and turned around to glare at them.

"Not fair." Laura complained as she stood there dripping.

"Clock's ticking." Rikki reminded her.

Laura let out a huff and jumped into the water.

"Well now that we're all here," Bella began. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I'm going for it." Laura said.

"Me too." Bella added.

"Wait! Both of you?" Cleo asked shocked.

Emma stopped paying attention to the shocked back and forth after that. The gears were already spinning in her head. Plans and arrangements that would be necessary now coming to the fore. All five of them were in this and that meant stuff needed to be done.

"Okay so we're all in this now." Emma said cutting off the discussion of Bella's and Laura's reasons. "We need to start getting things ready for the guys to stay with us, and figure out ways to keep them from being found out."

"Us too." Laura said. "We can't let the general public know we loaned it out. Not just because it will make the guys lives hell but so we don't get constant demands for other loans."

Emma hadn't considered that, but quickly factored it into her plans. "That would be a nightmare."

Laura flinched.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to bring that up." Emma told her.

"It's okay. I'm past it for now. I'm talked out on it for today anyways."

"Well if you need to. You know we're all here for you." Rikki said in a rare moment of tenderness.

Emma didn't take the opportunity to razz her on it either. Their nightmares was the one shared experience they never took lightly.

"So then. Ash will be staying with me." Emma said going back to the original topic. If Laura didn't feel like talking then they wouldn't talk. There was plenty of other stuff to discuss anyways. "I'll have to get the guest room set up for him."

"You're engaged now. He should just stay in your room." Rikki said.

"We discussed that. We agreed the guest room was best. It is my parents house and we want to be respectful." Emma told her. "Now is Zane staying with you or are you going to his place?"

"I'm going there." Rikki said. "We're still arguing about who get's the couch."

"Huh?" Emma had to admit that was confusing.

"He's insisting that he take the couch. I think it's just fine if I do since it's his place." Rikki explained.

Emma shook that off. "Not important. You're going there. Okay."

"Will and Byron are going to be with us." Laura said. "It might be a bit crowded but we'll make it work."

"Cleo?" Emma asked.

"Lewis is going to stay with me. My Dad will have some ground rules but we can work with those."

Emma checked that off her mental list. Along with the arrangements for the cafe and Cleo and Laura having the week off there should be almost no mishaps from the work place.

"Denman would like to get some basic cheek swabs from us and the guys next week." Cleo said. "I think we should. Lewis is going to work with her on what ever it is she has in mind if that helps."

Emma had been about to say no, but the fact that Lewis would be a part of this did give her some comfort. Sure he'd geeked out over this at first but even then he'd never tried to take advantage of them. She trusted him and so long as he was part of it she'd be willing to cooperate.

"I'm fine with that so long as it's Lewis that does the collecting." Emma said.

"You can do the swabs yourself and just hand it to him you know." Laura said.

Even better in Emma's opinion. There was plenty more to work out but looking at her friends she knew that was enough for now.

"Okay that's good for now. I'll work out the smaller details with you guys later." Emma said. Judging by the look of relief on the others faces she'd guessed right. "Unless there is anything else?"

Everyone shook their heads. "Okay then. Rikki. In three. Two. One!"

They shot out of the pool and Emma flew ahead. As she had suspected what she'd learned from Bella had made it so easy to beat Rikki it was almost not fair. At least it wasn't until Rikki pulled even with her using the same technique.

Emma mentally kicked herself. The others had probably picked that up from Bella a long time ago and just kept it to themselves. Despite that, seeing Rikki keep up with her ignited her competitive spirit and she love it. More so when she noticed Bella, Cleo, and Laura all doing their best to win.

Emma didn't know why they were all taking part in this race, and she didn't care. All that mattered to her was right here, right now, and how alive she felt.


End file.
